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Workfare is an alternative model to conventional Social Welfare systems. Traditional welfare benefits are available with little required of the recipient, save their continued search for employment. Under workfare, recipients have to meet certain participation requirements to continue to receive their welfare benefits. These requirements are often a combination of activities that help to improve the recipient's job prospects (such as training, rehabilitation and work experience) and those that allow them to contribute to society (such as unpaid or underpaid work). These programs, now common in the United States, Australia (under the guise of mutual obligation) and Canada have generated considerable debate and controversy. Welfare has four main meanings. ...
Goals of workfare
The main goal of a workfare system is to allow current recipients of welfare to make more of a "net contribution" to society as a whole. They primarily aim to do this by getting unemployed people into paid work, reducing or eliminating the amount of welfare paid to them and giving them an income from which they will pay tax. Furthermore, it is argued that once a person has recent employment experience, even at entry level, they are more likely to obtain more gainful, long term employment. Forcing people into employment or employment-like situations also aims to break the cycle of poverty where, particularly in rural areas and ethnic minorities, welfare dependence can become a way of life. Rural area in Dalarna, Sweden Sheep eating grass in rural Australia Rural areas are sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities and towns. ...
Some workfare systems also aim to derive contribution from welfare recipients by more direct means. These systems obligate unemployed people to undertake work that is beneficial to their community. The rationale behind these programmes is twofold; Firstly, taxpayers may feel that they get "more value for their welfare dollar" when they observe welfare recipients working for their money, making such programmes politically popular. Secondly, putting unemployed people into a workplace-like environment attempts to address the belief that one of the biggest barriers to employment for the long-term unemployed is their lack of recent workforce experience.
Opposition Opponents to workfare systems argue that there are many flaws in the various rationale and that many of the consequences of placing such a burden on society's lower classes outweigh the perceived benefits.
One of the main arguments against workfare is that it tends to generate prospective employees who lack basic literacy or numeracy skills and are mostly unemployable outside the so-called "McJob" industries. Furthermore, the higher-level training that is provided is often criticised as being a waste of money, as it often does not reflect the employment demands of local industry. This, combined with the fact that there is sometimes a genuine shortage of employment opportunities, gives rise to the argument that the extra expense of administering workfare programs is not offset by the reduced costs of "removing" people from the welfare rolls. McJob is slang for a low-pay, low-prestige job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany advancement. ...
Another argument against the workfare system is that obligating people to perform "voluntary" work or pushing them into low-paid employment (or even government wage assistance schemes) is the modern-day equivalent of slave labour. This is especially true because the jobs and tasks offered to people with little or no employability tend to be either menial or labour intensive in nature. It is argued that the creation of this artificial lower-class adds to the stigma that welfare recipients are lazy, unmotivated, and would do nothing unless the state intervened. Slavery is any of a number of related conditions involving control of a person against his or her will, enforced by violence or other clear forms of coercion. ...
A social stigma is a stigma in the form of a distinctive characteristic in a person which can cause or be the result of marginalisation when used as an insult by individuals or groups. ...
The social consequences of the burdens of a workfare system are another focus of criticism. As discussed in the 2002 Michael Moore documentary film Bowling for Columbine, work requirements for welfare funds can put a strain on families with young children, especially when the families are headed by single mothers. It could also be argued that people with inherent disadvantages to finding employment (such as a disability, a speech impediment, or being of an ethnic minority) are unfairly punished for issues that are out of their control. 2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Michael Moore pictured on the cover of his book Michael Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American film director, author, and social commentator. ...
Documentary film is a broad category of cinematic expression united by the intent to remain factual or non-fictional. ...
Bowling for Columbine is a film directed by and starring Michael Moore. ...
A single parent is a parent with one or more children, who is neither married, nor living together with his or her partners. ...
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