U.S. posts weak 80,000 jobs gain in June

Quote from ASimpleMan : There's relatively little distance between 2006 and 2011 in terms of cost of SNAP and unemployment. In 2006, unemployment was at 4.6% with a SNAP budget of 32.9 Billion. In 2011, unemployment was at 8.9% with a SNAP budget of 75.6 Billion. So unemployment increased by 48%, while spending increased by 56%. You also have to factor in that not everyone who's unemployed is on food stamps and you also have to factor in the increased number of officials that are needed and the additional CODB.

Really don't mean to be picking on you, although I'm sure that it seems like it. lol

I understand what you're trying to say re some correlation. However, the analysis that you've done there is very shaky at best. You can't on any valid basis directly compare the relative difference in the % change in a rate like unemployment directly to a % change in the dollar value for the program. I mean you can but it's basically a meaningless number since it doesn't take into account the nature and values/magnitude of the numbers. That is, you're comparing two percentages independent of the associated values.

Now if you want to put things on a more valid basis, you'd need to compare the program costs which more than doubled by $42 billion in 5 years with the number (not the percent change to the rate) of the unemployed and whatever increase and rate of increase that represents for N people added over that same time (whatever that number may be). Then you can calculate relative percentage values from there, compare rates of change with that of the past, etc.