Food-aid numbers underline poverty

There has been a healthy dose of decent news on the economy of late. The stock market has been rising briskly. The most recent jobs report was respectable instead of regrettable. And consumer confidence has ticked upward a bit.

But there are other signs that remind of how much remains to recover. Consider food stamps. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program, Arizona had 1.1 million receiving assistance in 2012. That was up 5 percent from 2011 and up 79 percent from 2008.

Nationally, enrollment in food stamps climbed 4 percent in 2012 and since 2008 it increased 65 percent.

The figures underscore the widespread poverty problem, especially in Arizona.

Massachusetts, the state closest in population to Arizona, had 262,000 fewer foodstamp recipients in 2012 than Arizona. The difference is greater than the population of Chandler, the state’s fourth-largest city.

The monthly assistance has gone up in recent years, too, though it remains relatively small.

In Arizona, monthly aid averaged $127 in 2012, or about $1.41 per meal.

There are recent signs that Arizona’s recovery may be affecting those on food stamps, too.

According to the USDA, Arizona’s food-stamp caseload fell 1.4 percent from December to January and dropped 2 percent from January 2012 to January this year. It was one of just 10 states to report falling enrollment over that one-year span. Nationally, caseloads grew 2.8 percent in that period. ARIZONA ECONOMY