SNAP and ABAWDs
By Albert B. Kelly
In case you’re wondering, ABAWD stands for “able-bodied
adults without dependents”- we can always count on government for painful abbreviations
and acronyms. I mention ABAWDs because roughly 688,000 of them will have to
meet the minimum work requirement (20 hours a week) for continued eligibility for
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. The program currently limits ABAWDs to 3
months of benefits in a three-year period unless they meet the work
requirement, but many states waive the requirement in areas with high
unemployment. This will be much harder to do come April 1st.
At first glance, I don’t see what the big deal is since the
rule change coming out of the USDA is about enforcing what’s already on the
books while nudging able-bodied adults without dependents back into the
workforce. For some people, just the idea of others being able-bodied, without
dependents and collecting government assistance is enough to make them deadbeats
in their eyes. If you hold this view, then maybe this rule change is just the
sort of kick in the pants these ABAWDs need- or maybe not.
I say that because the thing most people focus on is the
fact that these adults are “able-bodied” and the discussion generally stops
there. We rarely go on to consider why they’re seeking assistance in the first
place or why meeting the work requirement is damned- near impossible in some
places. And if we think about these people at all, many assume they’re just
trying to game the system because when you come right down to it, they’re able
bodied so what else could it be?
Well for one thing we live in an era of the “gig economy”
which, if you’re not sure what that is, basically is a bunch of temporary
positions with “independent” workers engaged for short-term assignments (aka
“gigs”). The difference between a gig worker and a day laborer is lost on me,
yet I can’t help but admire the way the Silicon Valley types have managed to sell
us on the idea that this lack of a secure living at a steady job is really a
good thing. They tell us that flexibility is the highest good as opposed to say
medical benefits or paid sick time.
It is not too much to say that even if some of the ABAWDs
worked in the gig economy, I’m not at all sure that they would be able to meet
the time requirement or produce the type of documentation necessary to convince
the bureaucracy that they’re actually satisfying the requirement to get the assistance.
But that’s a discussion for another day- the real issues are the lack of
employment for some and the employability of others.
The quarterly stats say our economy is robust and growing,
but that growth doesn’t necessarily translate into jobs that ABAWDs can hold
down. I suspect that the activity that appears like real growth to those
keeping score happens mostly through services and platforms like Uber, Airbnb,
and Amazon as opposed to companies producing actual hotels, fleets of vehicles,
or brick and mortar retail stores. If I’m right about that, then it’s back to
the gig economy.
But even when we’re talking about filling real jobs, there
are other challenges. While it’s not easily acknowledged, when it comes to employers
and hiring with all things being equal, the Jazmin’s and Malik’s of the world get
picked a lot less than the Brandon’s and Madison’s; likewise younger applicants
get selected over older applicants. Policies might do well to allow for other beneficial
activities like volunteering at the local level to satisfy work requirements.
My point is that it’s easy to dismiss all “able-bodied
adults without dependents” (ABAWDs) getting a SNAP benefits as lazy and not
wanting to work. Sometimes that’s true and some are lazy, but I suspect that
for far more ABAWDs things are a lot more complicated and nuanced than
stereotypes will ever acknowledge. Not for nothing, but nearly 20,000 U.S
Military families depend on SNAP benefits. Things are tough all the way around.
I’m all for people working and having skin in the game, but
we’re living in a world where the very nature of employment itself is being
redefined by technology and I struggle, especially during this season of
giving, with tying something as basic as food assistance to jobs that either
don’t really exist in our economy or jobs that won’t readily be filled by the
very people who most need the help.