Even in 2009, the growth in social assistance caseloads was substantially lower than the growth in the number of potential workers in jobless households not receiving unemployment benefits in several of these countries, including the Czech Republic and the United States (as regards Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). This pattern may reflect particularly stringent eligibility criteria for households to become eligible for SA. In contrast, the growth of social assistance caseloads in Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as the number of Food Stamps recipients in the United States, actually exceeded the growth in the number of working-age persons in jobless households not receiving unemployment benefits.