For over a decade, New Mexico has operated under a federal waiver that has enabled able-bodied adults without children to continue receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as food stamps, even if they are not employed.
However, this provision is changing due to declining unemployment rates in certain parts of the state. As a result, individuals aged 18 to 54 who are single, have no dependents, and reside in Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Eddy, and Los Alamos counties, as well as within the San Ildefonso, Pojoaque, Santa Clara, and Laguna pueblos, will now need to demonstrate that they are working at least 80 hours per month to remain eligible for SNAP benefits.
This change reflects a broader effort to encourage workforce participation among individuals in their prime working years. According to data from the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC Report), New Mexico has persistently struggled with low workforce participation rates. By incentivizing able-bodied adults to engage in the workforce, even through a minimal requirement of 80 hours per month, the state aims to address broader socioeconomic issues, including poverty and underemployment.
Nevertheless, some leftist groups have opposed these new work requirements, arguing that they impose unnecessary hardships on vulnerable populations and fail to account for regional disparities in job availability.
“It can have a hugely negative impact we know for a fact that it has no relationship helping families find new jobs. Taking away food assistance, if anything, make people’s lives more precarious and more difficult to find good work,” said Sovereign Hager, legal director of the leftist New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.
The Rio Grande Foundation emphasizes that a modest work requirement for SNAP recipients is not an unreasonable expectation. Encouraging greater workforce engagement, especially for those without caregiving responsibilities, aligns with efforts to improve New Mexico’s economic landscape.
As the Foundation and the LFC noted, boosting workforce participation rates among eligible individuals could significantly impact the state’s economic and social challenges. “It is simply outrageous that able-bodied working-age adults without children are not expected to work a mere 80 hours a month to receive SNAP benefits (regardless of where they live),” the Foundation states. Encouraging these individuals to seek employment not only reduces dependence on public assistance but also contributes to the overall productivity and economic health of New Mexico.
Work is honorable.
Either all citizens get food stamps or no one does. This is called equality, forcing by law for the middle and wealthy class to pay for others food is unconstitutional. Feeding the poor is the job of charities not the government.
SNAP out of it, New Mexico.