Grass Roots: Food stamp use soars with sinking economy

[iwishiwas]

Grass Roots: Food stamp use soars with sinking economy


PAT SCHNEIDER | The Capital Times | [e-mail] | (14) Comments | Posted: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 11:45 am

Racine Journal Times

Enrollment in state food stamp programs, like Wisconsin's FoodShare, soared with unemployment in the recession, finds a new national report that stresses the programs' importance in helping families make ends meet in a down economy.


The number of Wisconsin residents receiving food stamps soared 87 percent with the recession, according to a new study by the Urban Institute.

Nationally, the number of food stamp cases rose about 69 percent from the end of 2007 through 2010, as unemployment rates climbed, reports the Washington D.C.-based public policy research and analysis group.

State caseloads generally tracked unemployment rates, with Nevada showing the greatest increase in food stamp use, 128 percent, and unemployment, 248 percent, the Urban Institute analysis found.

In Wisconsin, the average monthly caseload for FoodShare, the state's food stamp program where recipients buy food with a QUEST card, reached 743,836 in 2010. More than $1 billion was paid out that year through the federally funded program, according to state data tables. Unemployment in the state, meanwhile, rose from 4.5 percent in December, 2007 to 7.5 percent in December, 2010, an increase of just over 66 percent..............

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