From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Federal Social Safety Net Programs and the Millions that Rely on Them Description: In February--just before the COVID-19 crisis hit the U.S.--the Department of Labor reported that employment was at the highest levels in 50 years. However, in that same month, millions of workers relied on federal social safety net programs to help pay for basic needs--including health care and food assistance. With increases in unemployment and underemployment because of the pandemic, more workers will likely need federal assistance to help make ends meet. We talk to Cindy Brown Barnes--an expert on employment issues, and the Managing Director of our Education, Workforce and Income Security Team--about a new report that looks at the employment characteristics of wage-earning adults enrolled in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Related GAO Work: GAO-21-45, Federal Social Safety Net Programs: Millions of Full-Time Workers Rely on Federal Health Care and Food Assistance Programs Released: November 2020 [Intro Music] [Cindy Brown Barnes:] Millions of low-income workers, who are doing all they can to contribute to the workforce by working full-time jobs, still cannot make ends meet. [Holly Hobbs:] Hi and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office--I'm Holly Hobbs. In February--just before the COVID-19 crisis hit the United States--the Department of Labor reported that employment was at its highest level in 50 years. However, that same month, millions of workers relied on federal social safety net programs to help pay for basic needs--including health care and food assistance. With increases in unemployment and underemployment because of the pandemic, more workers will likely need federal assistance to help make ends meet. Today, we talk with Cindy Brown Barnes--an expert on employment issues, and the Managing Director of our Education, Workforce and Income Security Team--about a new report that looks at employment characteristics of wage-earning adults enrolled in Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--also known as SNAP. Thank you for joining us Cindy! [Cindy Brown Barnes:] Thanks for having me. [Holly Hobbs:] So Cindy, I know your report looks at pre-COVID data, but what do we know about the impact the pandemic is having on federal social safety net programs? [Cindy Brown Barnes:] The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased enrollment in most of the federal social safety net programs, including Medicaid and SNAP. [Holly Hobbs:] And what can you tell us about the population of people enrolled in Medicaid and SNAP before the coronavirus? And let me break this out. Let's start with--what percentage of those enrolled in those two programs had jobs? [Cindy Brown Barnes:] We found that an estimated 25 million, or 47%, of the 53 million Medicaid enrollees and 18 million, or 51%, of the 35 million individuals who lived in households receiving SNAP benefits were wage earning adults ages 19 through 64. [Holly Hobbs:] And how many of those were full-time employees vs. part-time employees? [Cindy Brown Barnes:] About 7 in 10 working adults in both of the programs worked full-time. And full-time is defined as 35 or more hours per week, and the remaining one-third worked part-time. [Holly Hobbs:] And what kind of jobs or in what kind of industries did these enrollees work? [Cindy Brown Barnes:] About 90% of them worked for private sector employers, and these were concentrated in certain industries--including restaurants, department stores, and grocery stores. Smaller percentages of working adults in each program in each state worked outside the private sector. For example, less than 10% worked for public sector employers such as state governments, the U.S. Postal Service, or public universities. Others worked with nonprofit organizations such as charities, hospitals, and health care networks, or they were self-employed. [Music:] [Holly Hobbs:] It sounds like, even in times of job growth or high employment, millions of Americans still rely on assistance from federal social safety net programs. And that this reliance could increase as the COVID pandemic continues to impact our economy. Cindy, why do so many people who have jobs need federal assistance? [Cindy Brown Barnes:] We don't know exactly. However, given that most working adults in these programs already work full-time and eligibility for both programs is based on income, some ways to reduce this reliance would be to increase wages and have employers provide essential benefits like health insurance that are currently being provided by the federal programs. [Holly Hobbs:] And last question: What's the bottom line of this report? [Cindy Brown Barnes:] The bottom line of this report shows that, irrespective of the overall economy's health, there remain millions of low-income workers who are doing all they can to contribute to the workforce, by working full-time jobs, by raising their families. Unfortunately, they still cannot make ends meet. Federal programs offer these families a lifeline and play a vital role in stemming poverty. [Holly Hobbs:] That was Cindy Brown Barnes talking about GAO's recent review of enrollment trends in federal social safety net programs. Thank you for your time, Cindy! [Cindy Brown Barnes:] Thank you for having me. [Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. And make sure you leave a rating and review to let others know about the work we're doing. For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us at GAO.gov.