Key Takeaways:
A federal report shows the number of Amazon employees relying on food stamps and Medicaid nearly tripled since 2020, even as the company plans $200 billion in AI infrastructure spending this year.
The number of Amazon workers on federal food and health assistance nearly tripled between February 2020 and September 2025, a Government Accountability Office report commissioned by Senator Bernie Sanders shows.
"Taxpayers are subsidizing the starvation wages of large corporations like Walmart and Amazon, while the companies themselves are paying their CEOs exorbitant compensation packages and spending billions of dollars on stock buybacks to enrich their wealthy shareholders," Sanders said in a statement accompanying the report.
The report, which analyzed census data and employment records from 11 states, found that about 13.8 million working Americans were enrolled in Medicaid in 2024, up from 12 million in 2020, while 10.6 million relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, up from 9 million. About two-thirds of those workers were employed full time, concentrated in transportation, food preparation, and retail sales. App-based food delivery and ride-hailing platforms — Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, GrubHub, and Instacart — now rank as the top category of work in which employees receive food stamps, and third for Medicaid enrollment, a category where they barely registered five years ago.
The findings land as Amazon disclosed plans to spend $200 billion on artificial intelligence infrastructure in 2026, a sum that dwarfs the federal assistance programs supporting its workforce. The juxtaposition threatens to amplify political pressure on the company and could invite further legislative scrutiny from progressive lawmakers, potentially affecting Amazon's regulatory standing as it competes in the AI arms race against Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.
Amazon argued the report is misleading because it examines raw numbers rather than percentages, suggesting the company ranks high simply because it employs more people than most U.S. corporations. The company also noted that its part-time work options may make more employees eligible for Medicaid and SNAP. Walmart Inc. topped both lists in 2020 and remains the company with the most employees on Medicaid, though its share of beneficiaries increased only modestly over the period.
DoorDash pointed to an internal survey that found a third of its workers said they took delivery jobs specifically to avoid signing up for government benefits. Flex, a gig worker industry group representing Uber Technologies Inc. and other platforms, said many workers who might otherwise rely on government help can "turn to flexible work to bridge the gap."
The broader gig economy data paints a stark picture of financial insecurity. An Economic Policy Institute analysis found that 29 percent of gig workers earned less than their state's minimum wage, while 14 percent made less than the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. Almost one in five said they had gone hungry because they could not afford enough food, and 31 percent had been unable to pay utility bills in full during the previous month.
Gig workers also lack the protections of conventional employment. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed that only 19.9 percent of contingent workers received employer-provided health insurance, compared with 51.2 percent of non-contingent workers. A Pew Research Center survey found that 35 percent of platform workers had felt unsafe while on the job, and 19 percent reported experiencing an unwanted sexual advance.
The GAO report examined data from Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Washington. The findings are likely to fuel renewed debate over the federal minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009, and proposals to expand employer mandates for health coverage. With the 2028 election cycle approaching, the report gives progressive lawmakers a fresh data point to push for higher corporate accountability standards and expanded social safety net provisions.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
