The Trump administration made work requirements for low-income people receiving government assistance a priority in 2025.
The departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development have worked to usher in stricter employment conditions to receive health care, food aid and rental assistance benefits funded by the federal government.
The idea is that public assistance discourages optimal participation in the labor market and that imposing work requirements not only leads to self-sufficiency, but also benefits the broader economy.
“It strengthens families and communities as it gives new life to start-ups and growing businesses,” the cabinet secretaries wrote in a New York Times essay in May about work requirements.
Yet many economists say there is no clear evidence such mandates have that effect. There’s concern these new policies that make benefits contingent on work could ultimately come at a cost in other ways, from hindering existing employment to heavy administrative burdens or simply proving unpopular politically.
Here is a look at how work requirements could impact the millions of people who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid and HUD-subsidized housing:
SNAP
President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” in July expanded the USDA’s work requirements policy for SNAP recipients who are able-bodied adults without dependents.
Previously, adults older than 54, as well as parents with children under age 18, at home were exempted from SNAP’s 80-hours monthly work requirement. Now, adults up to age 64 and parents of children between the age of 14 and 17 have to prove they’re working, volunteering or job training if they are on SNAP for more than three months.
The new law also cuts exemptions for people who are homeless, veterans and young people who have aged out of foster care. There are also significant restrictions on waivers for states and regions based on how high the local unemployment rates are.
The Pew Research Center, citing the most recent Census survey data from 2023, notes 61% of adult SNAP recipients had not been employed that year, and that the national average benefit as of May 2025 was $188.45 per person or $350.89 per household.
Ismael Cid Martinez, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said the people who qualify for SNAP are likely working low-wage jobs that tend to be less stable because they are more tied to the nation’s macroeconomics. That means when the economy weakens, it’s the low-wage workers whose hours are cut and jobs are eliminated, which in turn heightens their need for government support. Restricting such benefits could threaten their ability to get back to work altogether, Martinez said.
“These are some of the matters that tie in together to explain the economy and (how) the labor market is connected to these benefits,” Martinez said. “None of us really show up into an economy on our own.”
Angela Rachidi, a researcher at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute,