SNAP Work Requirements: Fair Rule or Unfair Burden?
I want to share a story from my own neighborhood.
My neighbor Mike is in his early 50s and lives alone. He used to work in a factory for over a decade—steady job, steady pay. He thought he could rely on that income for the rest of his life. But when the factory shut down, he lost everything overnight.
Since then, Mike has been piecing together odd jobs: moving furniture, short-term shifts at construction sites, unloading trucks at the supermarket. Wherever someone needed labor, he showed up.
The problem is, gig work isn’t stable. Some months he can scrape together 100 hours; other months, he barely gets a few shifts. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t control whether the work is there.
SNAP has become his lifeline. Without it, he can’t even cover the basics—rice, pasta, cooking oil. But the rules hit him especially hard. As an “ABAWD” (Able-Bodied Adult Without Dependents), he must work at least 20 hours a week or else he can only receive 3 months of SNAP benefits in a 36-month period.
Imagine that pressure. Every time he gets a short-term gig, his first thought isn’t “how much will I earn?” but “will this count toward my 20 hours? Will I lose food assistance next month if I fall short?”
One day outside the corner store, he told me: “It’s not that I don’t want to work. I’m out there looking every day. But I can’t decide how many hours people are willing to give me. If SNAP cuts me off, I can’t even afford instant noodles.”
And Mike isn’t alone. Across the country, thousands of people are in the same position:
The instability of gig work — delivery drivers, temp jobs, patchwork shifts. They can’t guarantee steady weekly hours.
The toll of age and health — middle-aged workers pushing their bodies just to keep up.
No dependents, no exemptions — they fall right into the strictest rules.
I understand the argument for work requirements: fairness, accountability, taxpayer responsibility. But here’s the real question—should people who are already working hard be punished just because their hours don’t add up?
So I want to hear from you:
Do you think SNAP’s work requirements are fair?
Yes — they encourage employment and reduce dependency.
No — they strip away the last safety net from people who are already trying.
Maybe — we need more flexible rules for gig and temp workers, or better support like job training and childcare.
#SNAPLife
