How do food stamps work?

When a family’s monthly income goes down, such as if one parent loses a job, monthly SNAP dollars increase. But when a worker’s paycheck increases, such as from overtime, food stamps are supposed to be reduced.

SNAP beneficiaries must report increases and decreases in their monthly income – something that becomes much harder when your paycheck varies from one month to the next, researchers found.

“We should ... design our policies in a way that can help these families,” said Hannah Rubinton, author of the study.