NWLC & FRAC Reveal True Impact of SNAP Work Requirements

Washington, DC – The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) released a fact sheet today that reveals the true impact of time limits, also known as work reporting requirements, on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

The fact sheet, which comes as Congressional Republicans seek to expand time limits for SNAP in their reconciliation bill, illustrates the ineffectiveness of SNAP time limits, as well as how the red tape and administrative burdens created by these requirements disproportionately harm women.

Read the report here: SNAP Time Limits Harm Women, LGBTQIA+ People, and Families

“Senate Republicans are trying to frame expanding these cruel restrictions in SNAP as a way to help people to support themselves and their families, but that’s simply not true,” said Amy Matsui, vice president of child care and income security at NWLC. “There is no evidence that time limits help people find work. Instead, these expanded requirements proposed in the reconciliation bill will raise grocery costs for families and rob children of food so that billionaires can get another tax break.”

“SNAP is one of the most effective tools we have to fight hunger, especially when times are tough,” said Gina Plata-Nino, deputy director of SNAP at FRAC. “Time limits and harsh reporting requirements don’t help people find work. They simply take food away when people need it most. The Senate and House proposals to expand these harmful restrictions would have a devastating impact on millions of people, pushing more families into food insecurity while increasing administrative burdens for states.”

Among the key findings:

SNAP’s time limits do not help people find or maintain employment. Instead, research has shown that SNAP time limits dramatically reduce caseloads and benefit amounts, fail to increase employment, and reduce income across all recipients. These effects spill over to people who qualify for an exemption from the time limits, such as disabled people.
The majority of non-elderly adult SNAP recipients who can work, do work. In addition, many who are unemployed find it can take longer than the three-month SNAP time limit to find a job. The average jobless spell in May 2025 was 21.8 weeks for unemployed people aged 16 and over.
Many workers have difficulty consistently reporting 20 hours of work per week, particularly workers in the low-paid workforce. Women, especially women of color, are overrepresented in the low-paid workforce. Women also are more likely to work part-time and have a disproportionate share of caregiving responsibilities, meaning that increasing these reporting requirements could hit them the hardest.