0 in the US, a government scheme under which people who receive welfare (= money from the government) and are able to work must work --
1 a government program under which people who receive welfare (= money from the government) and are able to work must work --
2 in the US, a system that is based on the principle that unemployed people should only continue to get welfare (= money from the government) if they agree to do some work or to train for a job: --
a workfare program
In general, though, there is a good deal of diversity among the regimes under review - and, beyond the forensic analysis of workfare policies themselves, the real issue is their effectiveness.
The rhetoric of workfare and mutual obligation insists that the unemployed repay their dole payments with some very specific thing: labour time, spent in one of the prescribed activities.
A further - significant - feature of the discussion concerns the degree to which the introduction of workfare programmes has led to a 'convergence' of national social assistance schemes.
Certainly there are distinctions to be made between different sorts of workfare policies.
The second is that independence and a 'better life' for lone parents will be achieved through a 'hand-up' to work through workfare.
Although there are some delightful historical touches, all that material is broadly familiar to anyone who has been following 'workfare' debates worldwide.
The mixed results of welfare-to-work studies helped dampen the enthusiasm of many ardent workfare supporters.
In accomplishing this task so successfully, the editors have furnished us with a much-needed account of contemporary workfare arrangements in key welfare regimes.
