Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services Secretary received federal approval of a new waiver of work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This new waiver extends exemption from work requirements of 80 hours per month for SNAP recipients in most counties in Pennsylvania through August 31, 2025. It will continue to exempt an estimated 170,000 able-bodied adults without dependents in Pennsylvania from the SNAP work requirements.
The new waiver applies fully to 58 of 67 counties in the state. Restrictions are in place for certain municipalities in two other counties. The other seven have discretionary exemptions from the waiver through May 31.
SNAP—formerly known as food stamps—is regulated and controlled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). State-level agencies administer their SNAP programs following federal requirements, including work requirements.
Pennsylvania is one of 30 states that will have in place at least a partial waiver for the time limit usually applied to able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) on the SNAP program in the fourth quarter of 2024.
ABAWDs are subject to more requirements than the general work requirements applied to other members of the SNAP program and have a time limit in which they must meet these requirements in order to continue receiving benefits.
Thirty-nine Republican members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives wrote a letter to the Department of Human Services Secretary, Val Arkoosh, opposing the extension of the work requirements waiver.
General SNAP work requirements are applied to individuals between the ages of 16 and 59 who are capable of work, with some exceptions. Members must register for work, participate in SNAP Employment and Training or workfare (if applicable), take a suitable job if offered, and must not voluntarily quit their job if they have one or reduce their hours to less than 30 per week without a good reason.
ABAWDs are individuals between 18 and 54 (as of Oct. 1, 2024) that do not have dependents. They are subject to these requirements but must also spend 80 hours a month working, volunteering, or participating in a work program. If ABAWDs do not meet these requirements within three months, they lose their benefits. After being removed from the program, ABAWDs have 30 days to meet the requirements or they must wait three years to receive another three months of benefits. This means ABAWDs who do not meet the work requirements are limited to three months of SNAP benefits every three years.
States can petition the USDA Food and Nutrition Service for a temporary waiver of the ABAWD time limit if the unemployment rate in an area is over 10% or there are insufficient work opportunities. This waiver does not negate general SNAP work requirements. It prevents ABAWDs from losing benefits after three months if they fail to meet the specific ABAWD work requirements.
Opponents of SNAP work requirement waivers, including the Republican state house members who wrote Arkoosh, argue that there is a workforce shortage and say that the SNAP work requirements are an incentive for able-bodied adults to participate in Pennsylvania’s economy.
Proponents of the waiver argue that the imposition of time limits does not encourage employment among ABAWDs, citing research from the Urban Institute. They also argue that many SNAP recipients in the ABAWD category are likely to be homeless or to live with mental or physical conditions that don’t qualify as disabilities but make working difficult or impossible.
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