The number of individuals covered by the state’s food stamp program has, on average, declined slightly in state fiscal year 2015.*
The decline comes after a record 25 consecutive months in which the number of individuals exceeded 500,000.
For the last six months of available data, the number of total covered individuals has been approaching 490,000, and even dipped below that number in July.
Despite the improvement, the overall enrollment in the food stamp program is a far cry from pre-recession averages of 2007 and 2008 when the state generally had about 250,000 individuals under the food stamp program per month.
Numerous reports of late have hinted that the state’s unemployment numbers are almost as good as can be expected. Brian Lewandowski, assitant director of business researcher at the Unviersity of Colorado told the Coloradoan, “If we’re not at full employment we’re very close.”
*Two more months of data are needed to complete all data for fiscal year 2015. The enrollment data usually lags by 2-3 months.
