The Positive Impact of public benefits

What could Texas look like if everyone eligible received benefits?

In 2023, the Urban Institute released a national study that created a hypothetical scenario where there was 100% participation and full funding in public benefits for eligible individuals. The study revealed that participation in seven public benefit programs led to a 42.5% decrease in children living in poverty in Texas alone or 640,000 children receiving enough additional support to be living above the SPM poverty level.

In Texas in 2022, 19.2% of children live in poverty or 1.6M children living in poverty. Of these 1.6M children, 130,000 live in Dallas County (8%).

How do public benefits impact families?

For those in need, access to public safety net benefits for a temporary period of time are proven to positively influence adult earnings for children and education rates, while reducing food insecurity, healthcare costs, evictions, and teen pregnancies.

A Child Tax Credit study on the impact family income on intergenerational earnings found that for families with average incomes of less than $25,000 when their children were young, a $3,000 annual income boost (in 2005 dollars) from the children's prenatal year to age 5 was associated with a 17 percent increase in adult earnings and 135 additional work hours per year after the children reached age 25.

A study of the impact of Health Insurance Access on Schooling found that expanding health insurance coverage for children increases the rate of high school and college completion. A Georgetown university report on earnings from degree completion revealed that adult with a bachelor’s degree earns $1.2 million more than the median for workers with a high school diploma

A study on the impact of SNAP on health outcomes and healthcare costs found that children receiving SNAP are less likely than low-income non-participants to be in fair or poor health, underweight, or obese, and their families are less likely to make tradeoffs between paying for health care and paying for other basic needs, like food, housing, heating, and electricity

How do public benefits impact the economy?

Public benefits also drive workforce participation, boost economic activity through additional spending in the economy, create jobs, circulate Dallas tax dollars locally, and foster a prepared future workforce.

A USDA study on SNAP’s impact on job creation found that every $1 billion invested in SNAP generates approximately $1.5 billion in economic activity, supporting over 13,500 jobs.

A study on EITC’s impact on workforce participation found that EITC has encouraged single mothers to enter the workforce, but generally has had little to no impact on the number of hours they work. For example, one study found that 34% of the increase in employment among single mothers between 1993 and 1999 was due to legislative expansions of the EITC.

Dispelling Myths about Who is Accessing Public Benefits

Myth: Americans using public benefits do not participate in the workforce.

Fact: Most people enrolled in public benefits, such as food stamps, are full-time working individuals with children. In Texas, more than 79% of SNAP participants are in families with children and more than 50% are in working families. In 2022, over 3.4M residents participated in SNAP, or 1 in 9 Texas residents.

Myth: Most Americans do not need a safety net.

Fact: Most Americans will need to use the public safety net at some point in their lives because of an increasing number of Americans who are not able to afford the increasing cost of living. Half of all American children will have received food stamps by the time they reach age 18. As a matter of fact, according to the Federal Reserve's Economic Well-Being of U.S Households survey, 37% of Americans do not have enough savings to cover a $400 emergency.

Myth: Welfare fraud is widespread.

Fact: In reality, fraud for programs such as Unemployment Insurance accounts for less than 2% of payments. Additionally, for every $10,000 in SNAP benefits issued to households, ~$11, or 0.1%, were determined by state agencies to have been overpaid due to recipient fraud.