The GAO report, requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders and released July 22, examined public-benefit enrollment across 11 states representing nearly one-fifth of the U.S. population. It found 12,346 Amazon employees receiving benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, while 11,338 were enrolled in Medicaid.
Those figures were roughly three times the levels identified in the watchdog's previous review in 2020, underscoring a widening gap between the financial resources of some of America's largest employers and the household finances of portions of their workforce.
Amazon was the second-largest traditional employer of public-assistance recipients in the states studied. Walmart remained ahead, with 16,055 workers enrolled in Medicaid and 15,515 receiving SNAP benefits. FedEx also recorded a sharp increase, with Medicaid enrollment among its workers more than tripling from the earlier review.
The biggest change, however, came from the gig economy. Workers associated with Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Grubhub and Instacart collectively became the largest employment group represented among SNAP recipients, highlighting the growing role of app-based contract work in the lower-wage labor market.
DoorDash challenged the implications of the GAO data, citing its own survey showing that roughly one-third of its couriers said they worked on the platform in part to avoid relying on public assistance.
The findings arrive as Amazon is embarking on the most aggressive capital-spending program in its history. The company initially projected about $200 billion in capital expenditures for 2026 before Chief Executive Andy Jassy raised the expected total to approximately $220 billion on July 30, citing, among other factors, higher memory-chip costs.
Much of that spending is being directed toward Amazon Web Services data centers, servers and other computing infrastructure needed to satisfy demand for AI services. AWS revenue rose 37% in the second quarter, strengthening Amazon's argument that its infrastructure expansion is being driven by existing customer demand rather than purely speculative expectations around artificial intelligence.
Amazon's financial capacity has expanded substantially over the same broad period covered by the GAO review. Annual profit increased from $11.59 billion to $77.67 billion, giving the company substantially more room to fund data centers, chips and other technology investments.
Worker purchasing power has moved much more slowly. Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited in the report showed real average hourly earnings at $11.32 in June 2026, compared with $11.18 two years earlier, illustrating the limited improvement in inflation-adjusted wages amid elevated household costs.
The GAO estimated that 13.8 million working Americans nationwide were enrolled in Medicaid and 10.6 million received SNAP benefits. That compared with approximately 12 million workers on Medicaid and 9 million receiving food assistance in 2020.
Many beneficiaries were employed full time in industries including transportation, retail and food service, according to the report. The figures add to a longstanding policy debate over whether public-benefit programs effectively subsidize employers when workers' earnings are insufficient to cover basic living expenses.
Amazon disputed that interpretation. Spokesperson Rachael Lighty said the GAO presentation was misleading because it emphasized the absolute number of workers receiving benefits rather than the percentage of Amazon's overall workforce. The company also argued that its relatively large number of part-time positions makes some employees more likely to qualify for assistance.
Sanders, who requested the study, has taken the opposite view. He has argued that taxpayers should not be required to subsidize the "starvation wages" paid by highly profitable corporations and has linked the issue to federal tax and spending policies affecting large employers, Medicaid and food-assistance programs.
