SNAP Benefits, Labor Market Outcomes, and Medicaid Enrollment

Trade and automation have contributed to substantial job losses in the United States in recent decades. These changes to the labor market underscore the importance of considering innovative social insurance programs that provide financial protection to displaced workers. One such policy is wage insurance, which pays for part of the wages lost when a worker is laid off and subsequently takes a lower-paying job. This research empirically studies Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance (RTAA), which is a Trade Act program that offers wage insurance to workers aged 50 and older. Using individually-linked administrative data from Virginia, the research quantifies the impact of wage insurance on re-employment wages, unemployment durations, and the receipt of Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF benefits. The research employs a regression-discontinuity (RD) design using the program’s age-based eligibility rule.