SALT LAKE CITY -- A record number of people, more than 47 million, collected food stamps in December 2012, and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture this number sets a new record.
Texas, California and Florida were the states with the most food stamp recipients in 2012. In Utah the data shows that the number of food stamp recipients has leveled off from a constant increase seen in the early 2000’s.
Dave Maxfield, MIS senior analyst supervisor, said the economic situation plays a big role in the increase.
"With the economy being what it is there has been an increase in food stamp recipients,” he said. “In 2012 we kind of saw it level off a little bit, and the data actually shows that we are on a very slow decline."
These statistics came to light in the same week that the DOW hit a record high and unemployment fell to 7.7 percent.
