Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Opinion: Welfare Can Make More Sense Than Work
Hartford Courant ^ | 8/12/2013

Posted on 08/14/2013 6:04:11 AM PDT by Puppage

Most decisions in life are the result of a cost-benefit analysis. When residents in Connecticut consider getting a job, they assume they would be better off having a job than not. They'd be wrong. Because in Connecticut, it pays not to work.

Next Monday, the Cato Institute will release a new study looking at the state-by-state value of welfare. Nationwide, our study found that the value of benefits for a typical recipient family ranged from a high of $49,175 in Hawaii to a low of $16,984 in Mississippi.

In Connecticut, a mother with two children participating in seven major welfare programs (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, food stamps, WIC, housing assistance, utility assistance and free commodities) could receive a package of benefits worth $38,761, the fourth highest in the nation. Only Hawaii, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia provided more generous benefits.

When it comes to gauging the value of welfare benefits, it is important to remember that they are not taxed, while wages are. In fact, in some ways, the highest marginal tax rates anywhere are not for millionaires, but for someone leaving welfare and taking a job.

Therefore, a mother with two children in Connecticut would have to earn $21.33 per hour for her family to be better off than they would be on welfare. That's more than the average entry-level salary for a teacher or secretary. In fact, it is more than 107 percent of Connecticut's median salary.

Let's not forget the additional costs that come with going to work, such as child care, transportation and clothing. Even if the final income level remains unchanged, an individual moving from welfare to work will perceive some form of loss: a reduction in leisure as opposed to work.

That's not to say welfare recipients in Connecticut are lazy — they aren't. But they're not stupid, either. Surveys of welfare recipients consistently show their desire for a job. There is also evidence, however, that many are reluctant to accept available employment opportunities. Despite the work requirements included in the 1996 welfare reform, only 24 percent of adult welfare recipients in Connecticut are working in unsubsidized jobs, while roughly 41 percent are involved in the broader definition of work participation, which includes activities such as job search and training.

We shouldn't blame welfare recipients. By not working, they are simply responding rationally to the incentive systems our public policy-makers have established.

Of course, not every welfare recipient meets the study's profile, and many who do don't receive all the benefits listed. (On the other hand, some receive even more.) Still, what is undeniable is that for many recipients — particularly "long-term" dependents — welfare pays substantially more than an entry-level job.

In a Connecticut recipient's short-term cost-benefit analysis, choosing welfare over work makes perfect sense. But it may hurt them over the long term because one of the most important steps toward avoiding or getting out of poverty is a job. In fact, just 2.6 percent of full-time workers are poor, compared with 23.9 percent of adults who do not work.

Even though many anti-poverty activists decry low-wage jobs, starting at a minimum wage job can be a springboard out of poverty. And while it would be nice to raise the wages of entry-level service workers, government has no ability to do so. (Study after study shows that mandated wage increases result in increased unemployment for the lowest skilled workers).

If reducing welfare dependence and rewarding work is the goal, Connecticut legislators should consider ways to shrink the gap between the value of welfare and work by reducing current benefit levels and tightening eligibility requirements. For its part, Congress should consider strengthening welfare work requirements, removing exemptions and narrowing the definition of work.

Michael Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C., and author of "Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS:
In case my FRiends were wondering.....I am posting this from WORK.
1 posted on 08/14/2013 6:04:11 AM PDT by Puppage
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Puppage

Well then, you must work harder because the CT masses on welfare are depending on you. /s


2 posted on 08/14/2013 6:08:09 AM PDT by tgusa (gun control: deep breath, sight alignment, squeeze the trigger .......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tgusa
Well then, you must work harder because the CT masses on welfare are depending on you. /s

While I am laughing at that, there's also a lot of truth in your statement.

3 posted on 08/14/2013 6:11:08 AM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Puppage

Yea well then get to work!


4 posted on 08/14/2013 6:12:24 AM PDT by CGASMIA68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage

If you’re working, make sure you’re learning a skill that will be saleable when the system collapses.


5 posted on 08/14/2013 6:16:21 AM PDT by MulberryDraw (That which cannot be paid, won't be paid.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage
It's the sorry state of reality ... when we crunch the numbers, welfare CAN be a better deal.

I retired at 62, which was a good thing (though at the time, I wanted to stay until 65 ... it's another story ... ) and I soon recognized failing eyes, depth perception, muscles that wouldn't move when I told them to and a few other et cetera's justified my retiring.

But every time I read here in FreeRepublic about welfare and other scams, I feel a hint of guilt ... like I should still be an active worker and contributing ... not collecting SS.

SS is just about enough ... if the car doesn't break ... but it's still an abrasive to my soul when I consider what I used to be.
I'm eligeble for foodstamps but will not take them ... that's about the best "protest" I can mount

6 posted on 08/14/2013 6:17:19 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage
$49K from welfare. I had to work for 15 years to hit that figure, and I have family members that have never made that much in their lives despite being honest, hard workers. But there are people getting that kind of money just for breathing air and voting Dem.

Is it any wonder that no one wants to work anymore?

7 posted on 08/14/2013 6:17:36 AM PDT by jboot (It can happen here because it IS happening here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage
We shouldn't blame welfare recipients. By not working, they are simply responding rationally to the incentive systems our public policy-makers have established.

Yes, we should. Although there are some that would need the intended temporary assistance of welfare, most are slothily content to live the life of slug, constantly feed their daily dose of liquefied sugar. They contribute nothing to national betterment; contrarily, they are usually raising more welfare leeches with our blessing and paid assistance. What they haven't realized is that when Obama and his ilk have equalized all the national assets amongst us, he will decide who works at what, where they work, and when and how long - he is not going to let them not work because EVERYONE will have to feed the collective kitty so he can live his MTV Cribs lifestyle with the power of Idi Amin Emperor-for-Life DaDa.

8 posted on 08/14/2013 6:21:58 AM PDT by Gaffer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage

“That’s not to say welfare recipients in Connecticut are lazy ...”

I’ll say it.


9 posted on 08/14/2013 6:24:16 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage

“We shouldn’t blame welfare recipients. By not working, they are simply responding rationally to the incentive systems our public policy-makers have established.”

Some folks around here are locally famous for knowing how to WORK the public and private system.


10 posted on 08/14/2013 6:35:10 AM PDT by griswold3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jboot
I have family members that have never made that much in their lives despite being honest, hard workers

Those family members have something money can't buy....self respect (along with my respect)for doing honest work and for being self reliant.

11 posted on 08/14/2013 7:00:55 AM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: jboot

I’ve been working since ‘77 and haven’t hit that figure. Hubby earns 33K a year and HALF of that goes to non-arrears mommy fun money, errr “child” support for the next 10 1/2 MORE years (ten down)


12 posted on 08/14/2013 7:03:22 AM PDT by AbolishCSEU (Percentage of Income in CS is inversely proportionate to Mother's parenting of children)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Puppage

And one of the best things about welfare I don’t think you have to pay income tax. So dont forget to subtract that from your work paycheck too. Walfare sounds great we should all do it.


13 posted on 08/14/2013 7:10:36 AM PDT by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.-Sarah Palin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AbolishCSEU
Perhaps you should see if you qualify for some gubmint money. I earn a good bit more than $49K but I am still eligible for state energy and housing assistance. I get mailers from them all the time begging me to sign up. They switch-hit between English and Spanish mailers, too. So far I have resisted the urge to go on the dole.

They won't rest until all of us are idle wards of the state. Where the free money will come from then is anyone's guess.

14 posted on 08/14/2013 8:25:22 AM PDT by jboot (It can happen here because it IS happening here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Puppage




Please Support FR



15 posted on 08/14/2013 8:48:43 AM PDT by Lady Jag (If you can't make them see the light, let them feel the heat. - Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage
It's Totally Awesome Dude!
16 posted on 08/14/2013 9:07:23 AM PDT by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson