|
Trends
in Food Stamp Program Participation
Rates: 1994 to 2000
SUMMARY
This report is
the latest in a series on trends in Food
Stamp Program (FSP) participation rates,
based on the Current Population Survey.
This report focuses on changes in rates
from 1994 to 2000.
Overall
Trends
The report
shows that after declining for five
consecutive years, participation rates
rose by 2 percentage points between 1999
and 2000, from 57 to 59 percent. This
may signal an end to a period of
declining participation rates.
Participation rates fell by 17
percentage points between 1994 and 1999,
from 74 to 57 percent.
While both the
number of individuals eligible for food
stamps and the number of individuals
receiving food stamps fell between 1994
and 2000, the decline in the number of
participants was less than the decline
in the number of eligible individuals
for the first time in five years,
resulting in a small increase in the
overall participation rate.
Trends
Among Subgroups
Participation
rates among most subgroups increased in
2000 after declining for the past five
years. Participation rate increases were
highest for individuals living in
households with earnings, households
headed by single parents, and households
with incomes below 50 percent of
poverty, and for children. In 2000,
participation rates were 50 percent for
households with earnings, 91 percent for
households headed by single parents, 93
percent for households with incomes
below half the poverty line, and 72
percent for households with children.
By contrast,
participation rates were fairly stable
among the elderly and disabled, only
fluctuating modestly and without a clear
trend. Throughout this period, about 30
percent of eligible seniors
participated. Among the disabled,
slightly more than half participated
during this period.
Participation
rates continued to fall among legal
immigrants and citizen children living
with noncitizens. In 2000, less than 45
percent of eligible legal immigrants and
only 38 percent of eligible U.S. born
children of immigrants participated.
June
2002
Last modified:
02/17/2012
|
