Impact of additional SNAP benefits varies by major industry group

As participants in USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) spend their benefits, income is generated for those involved in producing, transporting, and marketing the food and other goods purchased by SNAP recipients. ERS researchers recently compiled a new social accounting matrix to quantify the effect of additional SNAP benefits on employment and gross domestic income (GDI) for various sectors of the U.S. economy. They found that a hypothetical new $1 billion in SNAP benefits would have a relatively large effect on manufacturing industries and the trade and transportation industries. The new SNAP benefits would generate $218 million in GDI and 1,540 full-time equivalent jobs for manufacturing industries, including food and beverage processors. For the trade and transportation industries, new income totaling $406 million and 4,450 jobs would be generated. These industries include grocery stores, food and other wholesalers, plus the trucking and rail freight industries, among others. The hypothetical new $1 billion in SNAP benefits would generate an additional $32 million in GDI going to agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting and 480 jobs in these industries. This chart appears in the ERS report, The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Economy: New Estimates of the SNAP Multiplier, and the Amber Waves article, “Quantifying the Impact of SNAP Benefits on the U.S. Economy and Jobs,” released in July 2019.

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