lastresort guaranteed minimumincome programmes gmi such as snap supplemental nutrition assistance program formerly food stamps or tanf temporary assistance for needy families in the united states and social assistance benefits in most european countries have seen relatively few explicit changes in benefit amounts although benefit levels have frequently not kept up with earnings growth so that gmi recipients are likely to have slipped further down the income distributionnotably finland poland and spain after benefit erosion continued but tended to be less rapid mainly because average wages growth was slower the united states was an exception to this pattern with a moderate postgr increase in snap benefit levels relative to average wages