Work–Welfare Programs

Origins of Workfare

Though the connection between work and welfare can be traced back to the English Poor Laws of the 16th century, contemporary workfare is treated as an alternative to the conventional social welfare system. Discussion of the desirability and usefulness of welfare payments was triggered among policymakers in the last quarter of the 20th century as welfare expenditure was becoming a greater burden to the already overburdened budget deficits of many countries. Traditional cash benefit systems were criticized for failing [Page 1705]to make the recipients self-sufficient and able to enter, or reenter, the labor market. The experience of European countries revealed that people who resumed work after receiving unemployment benefits often found it difficult to adjust to the work culture and performed poorly, even at entry levels.

The workfare concept had its origin in the United States, where James Charles Evers introduced it in 1968, and it was later popularized by President Richard Nixon in 1969, when he spoke about the “ending of welfare as we know it.” Nixon’s administration used the term workfare to market work-based social assistance as an effective and positive alternative to the passive provision of welfare support. Though the concept was debated extensively in European countries as a reform measure, Robert Walker believes that it had a long history in different parts of the United States even before the 1930s. States or counties in the United States made provisions that participation in work was a basic condition for the receipt of public welfare assistance. In 1962, the U.S. government made participation in work a requirement for the receipt of benefits under Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Employment creation projects also contained provisions for work participation. For example, the Work Incentive Program (WIP) of 1967 contained a mechanism for operationalizing workfare.

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