Why Americans are going hungry despite a strong economy

“Demand is higher now than during the pandemic,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, director of Feeding America, which works with a network of 200 food banks. “This is not just a group problem, it is an American problem. Hunger is a problem in America across all demographic groups, and now increasingly at more and more income levels.”

As of June, Feeding America had delivered 5.3 billion meals over the past 12 months.

Over the past year, nearly 1 million more people received food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, often called food stamps. Since the start of the pandemic, the number of food stamp recipients has increased increase at 2.3 million. Other programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, have also seen record levels of enrollment, and administrators worry they won’t have the funds next year to meet demand.

That comes even as unemployment has remained near record lows, wages are rising, inflation is slowing, and consumers are spending record amounts on everything from summer travel to concert tickets to holiday shopping. President Joe Biden has touted an economic resurgence fueled by billions of federal dollars for infrastructure, clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing jobs that he has made central elements of his reelection campaign.

But despite those metrics, polls have repeatedly shown that Americans have a bleak view of the economy and the prospects for their financial future. In a New York Times/Siena College survey released in November, 81% of registered voters characterized the economy as “fair” or “poor.”

Jennifer Estrada.Courtesy of Jennifer Estrada

In Wisconsin, Estrada shares that pessimistic vision. She said her family has had financial problems since her husband was deported to Mexico in 2012, leaving her the sole breadwinner of six children, including one she adopted. But she says the struggle has become even tougher in recent years, despite her income increasing, and she worries about what the future will be like for her children, ages 10 to 18.

“For me, personally, I think it’s going to be an ongoing struggle, pretty much for the rest of my life, however long it may be,” said Estrada, 43, who started a nonprofit to help other families. low-income like hers and who ran unsuccessfully in 2018 as a Democrat for the Wisconsin State Assembly. “But what I fear most is that I have three girls graduating from high school this year, and I’m just afraid of what the world has to offer them.”

Food has been at the center of economic pressure points. In all food categories, prices are up about 25% since 2020. Beef prices, for example, are at record levels, with the price of Ground meat exceeding $5 a pound, more than a dollar more in the last three years. The price of a gallon of milk, which currently averages just under $4, has marked down in recent months, but it is still 20% higher than before the pandemic. The price of a loaf of white bread. bread is up almost 50% to $2.

While inflation has slowed in recent months and wages have risen, at the current pace it could take until the end of 2024 before wage growth exceeds the inflation rate, according to a report. analysis by bank rate.

Amid rising prices, more people say they are hungry. Over the last year there has been a continuous increase in the number of people. inform who sometimes don’t have enough food, according to a Census Bureau survey conducted in late October. The number of households that said they had difficulty paying for food at some point during the year rose to 17 million in 2022, up 26% from 2021, the largest annual increase since 2008, according to a recent Department of Agriculture report. report.

Since having her baby nine months ago, Janet Ortigoza is among those who cannot afford the food her family needs. Ortigoza is not working because she cannot afford to care for her children, leaving the family of three dependent on her husband’s income as a farm worker in the Fresno, California region, helping to produce the food her family struggles with. to pay for.

“Before you could get five bags of groceries for $50, now you only get one bag for $50,” Ortigoza said. “Honestly, I’m scared to have another baby because I don’t think we can keep another baby. Now that she is growing, she is going to start eating three times a day and trying to provide her with proper nutrition is difficult.”

Her husband’s most recent paycheck for seven days of work went to pay December rent of $840, leaving nothing left for extras like food or diapers. A year ago, buying a new pair of shoes wouldn’t have seemed like a luxury, but now Ortigoza said it’s a purchase she’s been putting off, along with new baby blankets.

Janet Ortigoza.Courtesy of Janet Ortigoza

While inflation has slowed, Ortigoza’s costs have continued to rise. In January, your rent will increase by almost $100. Nationwide, rent has increased nearly 30% since the pandemic began. according to Zillow.

Utilities have also increased, and this year Ortigoza doesn’t plan to turn on the house’s heat, even with temperatures dipping into the 30s at night. Instead, she plans to wear extra clothes around the house and wrap her daughter in blankets.

To put food on the table, she had to turn to local food banks along with donations from a Facebook moms group. Her family’s income is too high to qualify for food stamps, but she has been receiving WIC benefits to help pay for formula and food for her daughter.

The struggle to afford food amid rising prices has been particularly acute for those who cannot work and benefit from rising wages, whether because they are retired, disabled or as full-time caregivers for a child or family member. .

Over the past year, Carl Willette began going regularly to a food bank in Augusta, Maine, for the first time in his life. At 85 and a full-time caregiver for his wife, Claire, he relies on $20,000 a year in Social Security benefits and a small pension from working 30 years as a mechanic at Mack Trucks.

Every Thursday around 7:30 a.m., Willette lines up behind at least 30 other cars at a food pantry, where he can pick up a limited number of items to help him get through the week.

“It’s like a noose around your neck is getting tighter and tighter,” Willette said. “You can’t imagine the pressure we have now with everything the way it is. I can’t understand it, how do you justify the salaries that exist today, why do things have to go up like that, why do they have to go up so much?

While food banks and government programs have filled the void for many struggling, those resources have been dwindling. Earlier this year, food stamp benefits were cut at an average of $90 per month after a Covid-era boost to the program expired. WIC program administrators are concerned that their budget for next year will not keep up with the growing need they are seeing, with enrollment growing around 300,000 people in 2023 to a record 6.7 million participants.

“The worst case scenario is wait lists for participants where states may not have enough funding to meet caseload needs, which would be absolutely terrible,” said Georgia Machell, interim president of the National Association WIC. “It’s putting state programs in a really difficult position and having to make very, very difficult decisions in order to continue functioning.”

Food banks have also struggled to keep up with growing demand as donations have decreased and food prices have increased, said Feeding America’s Babineaux-Fontenot.

Anita Garrett says she is having increasing difficulty feeding her five grandchildren, whom she has been caring for since their father was killed five years ago. At 65 and disabled, she said she cannot work, leaving her dependent on her monthly allowance of about $200 in food stamps, which was reduced by nearly $100 earlier this year.

That leaves her relying on a local Milwaukee food bank as her family’s main source of food, but even there she’s seen cuts. As demand has grown, the food bank has gone from handing out two bags of groceries a week to a single bag that includes one piece of meat for the entire week.

“The boxes they are giving to people are getting smaller and smaller. But the lines are getting longer,” Garrett said. “Everything is being cut, cut, cut. Everything is going up, up, up. I feel like depression is coming.”