Things you don’t hear about on TV: 1 in 6 Americans receive food stamps, By Mercedes White, July 17, 2013, Deseret News: “American food-stamp use rose nearly 3 percent between April 2012 and April 2013 according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Data from the Department of Agriculture shows that enrollment for food stamps (SNAP) is 47.5 million, or one in six Americans. An interactive map put together by the Wall Street Journal shows a state by state comparison of food stamp enrollment, along with information factors that likely contributed to higher enrollment in particular states. With 22 percent of residents relying on food stamps, Mississippi is at the top of the list for states with high enrollment in food support programs. The higher enrollment in Mississippi can be traced back to Hurricane Katerina in 2005 and the economic downturn of 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal. In Oregon, New Mexico, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky, one in five residents receives food stamps. Wyoming had the smallest share of its population on food stamps — 7 percent. Although food stamp use is pervasive, hunger is a relatively unexamined issue in American media…”…”
Tag: Media coverage
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
House committee urges action on food stamp fraud, By Pam Fessler, March 8, 2012, National Public Radio: “With more than 46 million recipients, the food stamp program has become one of the government’s biggest benefit programs. It has also become one of the biggest targets for those who think the federal government isn’t doing enough to prevent fraud. At a Thursday hearing in Washington, lawmakers complained that some retailers who illegally deal in food stamp benefits have been allowed to stay in the program…”
Poverty Measurement in the US
Census Bureau clarifies poverty numbers, By Sharon Bernstein, December 16, 2011, MSNBC.com: “Officials at the U.S. Census Bureau moved Friday to clarify widely reported figures meant to estimate the number of Americans living in poverty. Dueling Census reports – one based on official poverty estimates that was released just last week and another based on an experimental calculus used in November – differed from one another by 20 percentage points regarding the number of people viewed as living in poverty. The widely reported figure showed that one out of two Americans are in poverty or are low-income. Other Census figures put the figure closer to one out of three Americans. That’s because the experimental measure, a supplement to the official poverty figures meant to take into account such factors as whether a family is receiving food stamps and how much people pay in taxes, uses a poverty level of $24,343 for a family of four instead of the $21,113 used by the official measure…”