Why Are Able-Bodied, Childless Adults Not Working for Benefits?

Families, communities, and nations are stronger when parents teach the importance of work and self-reliance to their children. Work is not only the foundation for self-reliance, but it also builds self-esteem and self-worth. There is absolutely no reason why taxpayers should be taking care of healthy, able-bodied adults without children. However, such people are on the welfare rolls, according to Kevin Corinth. 

In an article published at the Deseret News, Corinth reported that the unemployment rate in the United States stands at 3.4%, the lowest rate in fifty years. Even though millions of employers are looking for employees, the Biden administration eliminated the work requirements for food stamp recipients, thus encouraging non-working adults to not look for work. Corinth encourages Congress to look at restoring work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as they seek ways to curb governmental spending.

Federal law requires that nondisabled recipients between the ages of 18 and 49 – who do not have children – must work or volunteer at least 80 hours per month in order to maintain SNAP benefits. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress justifiably suspended these work requirements as economic activity was shut down and unemployment soared to 14.7%.

The Biden administration has failed to end the public health emergency even though three years have passed since the pandemic began. Therefore, work requirements are not enforced even though workers are needed.

However, ending the public health emergency will not fully solve the problem. That’s because 18 states and territories containing 44% of the food stamp caseload have waivers in place that would prevent work requirements from taking effect even if the public health emergency ended today. These waivers are intended to protect beneficiaries when jobs are hard to find in a particular area, but their implementation suffers from major loopholes.

States qualify for waivers if their unemployment rates are just modestly higher than the national average – which has now reached a 54-year low – and they are calculated using out-of-date employment data. As a result, states with very low unemployment rates are currently covered by waivers, such as New Jersey (3.4%), Pennsylvania (3.9%), California (4.1%) and New York (4.3%). Among all states with work requirements waivers, Nevada is the only one with an unemployment rate above 5%.

The fact that work requirements are not being enforced when the national unemployment rate is the lowest in over a half a century defies economic logic. Economists frequently highlight the importance of tying the generosity of government assistance programs to the state of the economy. But that doesn’t just mean expanding generosity when jobs are hard to find. It also means restricting generosity when jobs are easier to come by.

According to Corinth, there are two big reasons why work requirements should be restored immediately. The first reason is the cost: “Working-age adults without disabilities or children drew $5.6 billion annually in food stamp benefits prior to the pandemic.” The cost is most likely higher now because “food stamp caseloads have risen and benefit amounts are higher.” Restoring work requirements would save money to use for more important purposes.

The second reason is that suspended work requirements interfere with “the Fed’s goal of stemming inflation without spurring a painful recession.” There is a worker shortage, which is made worse because the government fails to require able-bodied adults without children to work. The overall economy is harmed as well as the individuals who miss the benefits of work. There is no reason why working taxpayers should pay for benefits for healthy adults without children who are not working to provide for themselves.

Parents will prepare their children for adulthood if they teach them the value of work and how to work. Individuals who know how to work and who are willing to work bring strength to their families, communities, and nations.