It’s Not Just Walmart: UVM Health Network and Vail Resorts Also Rely on SNAP to Feed Workers
Retail, Healthcare, and Hospitality have evolved into a permanent structural wage supplement for Vermont’s essential service sectors, particularly food.
The intersection of federal social safety nets and private labor markets has become a defining feature of the modern economy. While recent reporting by the Boston Globe illuminated this dynamic in Massachusetts—revealing that major hospitals and retailers are among the top employers of SNAP recipients—the landscape in Vermont remains comparatively opaque.
This report provides a detailed analysis of the structural relationship between 3SquaresVT (Vermont’s SNAP equivalent) and local employment. It reconstructs the likely employer data to reveal a “low-wage triad” of Retail, Healthcare, and Hospitality, arguing that public assistance has evolved into a permanent structural wage supplement for Vermont’s essential service sectors.
2. Introduction to the Research Framework
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was originally conceived in the 1960s as a mechanism to absorb agricultural surplus and prevent malnutrition among the destitute. Over the subsequent half-century, its function has shifted dramatically. Today, SNAP operates as critical infrastructure underlying the low-wage labor market. It functions as an automatic stabilizer, expanding during economic contractions and contracting—though less elastically—during expansions.
In the contemporary context of Vermont, SNAP is no longer solely the domain of the non-working poor, the elderly, or the disabled. It has become a permanent feature of the financial portfolio for the “working poor”—individuals who maintain attachment to the labor force but whose earnings are insufficient to bridge the gap between wages and the cost of social reproduction.
3. The Massachusetts Catalyst
The impetus for this analysis stems from recent scrutiny in our neighboring state. The Boston Globe and the University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Center recently highlighted that 74 percent of working-age SNAP recipients in Massachusetts have jobs.
Their reporting identified a surprising roster of employers. While retailers like Walmart and Stop & Shop were expected, the list also included Mass General Brigham, the state’s largest healthcare provider. This revelation challenges the stereotype that food insecurity is absent from prestigious nonprofit institutions and prompts the immediate question: If the largest hospital system in Massachusetts is a top employer of SNAP recipients, does the same hold true for Vermont?
4. Methodology: Reconstructing Vermont’s Hidden List
Unlike Massachusetts, which has faced pressure to release specific employer data, Vermont does not currently publish a ranked list of companies with the highest number of employees on 3SquaresVT. To identify these “hidden” employers, this report utilizes a reconstruction methodology based on three data points:
Historical Filings: Utilizing Good Jobs First subsidy trackers and older state disclosures to establish baseline trends.
Sectoral Wage Analysis: Identifying industries where median wages fall below the 185% Federal Poverty Level cutoff for 3SquaresVT.
Scale of Workforce: Cross-referencing low-wage roles with Vermont Business Magazine’s largest employer rankings.
5. Sector I: The Retail Giants
The first and most visible tier of SNAP employers in Vermont consists of national retail chains. This is a volume game: these entities employ thousands of Vermonters, often in part-time roles that do not offer full benefits.
Walmart: Historically cited as the top employer of safety net recipients nationally, Walmart’s presence in Williston, Rutland, Berlin, and St. Albans makes it a primary hub for this demographic in Vermont.
The Grocery Chains (Hannaford & Price Chopper): With a larger physical footprint than Walmart, these chains are essential food sources but also essential employers. The wage structure for cashiers, stockers, and bakery clerks frequently aligns with 3SquaresVT eligibility, creating a circular economy where SNAP benefits paid to workers are often spent at the place of employment.
6. Sector II: The “Hidden” Care Economy
The most significant finding for Vermont, paralleling the Boston Globe’s discovery regarding Mass General Brigham, is the reliance of the healthcare sector on public assistance.
The University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC): As the largest private employer in the state, UVMMC effectively functions as a small city. While clinical staff are highly compensated, the system relies on a massive workforce of environmental service technicians (janitorial), dietary aides, and patient transport staff. These roles often pay wages that, while competitive for the sector, struggle to keep pace with the Burlington area’s housing costs.
Home Health & Human Services: Agencies like Health Care & Rehabilitation Services (HCRS) and various Visiting Nurse Associations rely heavily on Personal Care Attendants (PCAs) and Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). These positions are often funded by Medicaid reimbursement rates set by the state, which historically have been low enough to qualify workers for the very safety nets they help others access.
7. Sector III: The Seasonal Hospitality Trap
Vermont’s unique economic signature is its reliance on tourism, specifically the ski industry led by Vail Resorts (Stowe, Okemo, Mount Snow).
The Cyclical Trap: Unlike the steady poverty of retail, this sector creates “cyclical food insecurity.” Workers are employed intensely during the winter and summer but face predictable layoffs during “mud season” (April/May) and “stick season” (November).
Evidence of Need: The reliance on assistance is so normalized that industry foundations, such as the EpicPromise Employee Foundation, explicitly offer grocery store gift cards to employees, a tacit acknowledgment that wages alone are insufficient for food security.
8. Structural Insights: Why Work Isn’t Working
The data suggests that high 3SquaresVT utilization among employed Vermonters is not merely a result of low wages, but of two compounding structural factors.
The Housing-Wage Gap: The livable wage for a rural Vermonter is roughly $17.68/hour, but significantly higher in Chittenden County. When rent consumes 50% or more of a worker’s take-home pay, food becomes the only elastic part of the budget. 3SquaresVT is effectively subsidizing the Vermont housing market by freeing up cash for rent.
The Benefit Cliff: Vermont’s progressive benefits structure creates a “cliff” where a small raise (e.g., $0.50/hour) can result in a disproportionate loss of benefits (e.g., losing hundreds in food aid or childcare support). This creates a rational economic incentive for workers in retail and healthcare to refuse overtime or promotions, keeping them on the 3SquaresVT rolls.
9. What Happens Next
As we move through 2025, several factors will impact this “hidden workforce”:
Enforcement of Work Requirements: Vermont is now enforcing federal ABAWD (Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents) rules. This mandates that able-bodied recipients aged 18–54 must work at least 20 hours a week. This will likely keep the “employed recipient” statistics high, as non-working recipients are removed from the program.
Housing Policy as Labor Policy: State legislators are increasingly viewing housing reform not just as a social issue, but as a labor retention issue. Without stabilizing housing costs, large employers like UVMMC and Vail Resorts will continue to rely on the state-administered food supply to bridge the gap for their essential workforce.
Transparency Pressures: Following the disclosure of data in Massachusetts, there may be increased pressure on the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF) to release aggregated employer data, moving the conversation from estimation to hard numbers.