Welfare - what is it and who benefits

Nice topic, here is some Aussie data on unemployment vs job vacancies.
http://unemployedworkersunion.com/...kers-v-job-vacancy-data That's nearly 20 people looking for work for every job vacancy! There's just not enough work. I cant imagine how bad crime would be if not for our social safety net. Newstart(job seekers) allowance is roughly $265 Aus per week. Anyone receiving a welfare payment is also eligible for rent assistance and we have a public housing system that charges on a percentage of income basis.There are two family tax benefits A and B, my wife and I are eligible for one of them despite a combined annual income upwards of 100k. We are also reimbursed for childcare costs up to $5000 per year(from memory). My wife and I are reimbursed around 50% of the cost of visits to the doctor, we pay nothing for the kids to see a doctor. We have used the local govt hospital on many occasions for injuries and the births of our kids with no out of pocket expense. You do have to pay for prescription medication on the way out though which is subsidised for those on pensions etc. We received a first home buyer grant of $7000.I got a bit carried away there but I thought it wouldn't hurt to add some insight into a more socialist nation. Maybe you guys will see what you're missing out on 😂

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6220.0A link to the hidden unemployment data. As I understand it unemployed is those without a job and actively looking, underemployed is those with a job but actively looking for more work and the hidden unemployment is people capable of work who do want to work but aren't actively looking. The figure is mostly stay at home parents and students.

The figure of 1.3m hidden unemployed is taken from the much larger figure of 6.3m not in the workforce. Of those 6.3m, 1.3m can and do want to work but simply aren't actively looking for whatever reason. So it represent those students and parents who do want to work, it does not suggest that those who don't want to should. Hopefully that clears it up a bit.

I see no point in quibbling over the hidden unemployment figure. My point is still valid even ignoring those 1.3m 'hidden unemployed' given the ratio is still more than 10 to 1.Conservatives like to assume they are all lazy or playing the system but most of them simply can't get a job because there aren't enough to go around.

Do you really expect anything less than derision when you freely admit that your position is based on nothing more than your own subjective feelings? The people in your anecdotes aren't representative of the majority of people who collect welfare payments, according to the actual data.I'm going to try to make your group project analogy more analogous to reality. If the teacher notices that the bum isn't doing much and awards him a C while the rest of the group gets an A, is that fairer?In Australia, unemployment payments are less than half the minimum wage, around a third of the median wage and around a quarter of the mean wage. It's not like they're receiving the same benefit as a worker without doing any work. So what's the problem?

As an outsider from a country with a great social safety net, it's rather bemusing to read about the US system. Here, if your son could make the case that his impairment precludes him from working, he would receive around $500 a week on the disability pension. I don't know exactly what he would be entitled to while working, but I imagine he would receive part payment depending on his hours. The benefits he would receive certainly wouldn't be denied to him for working less than 20hrs though, at least. Cutting the safety net because you aren't working enough is utterly asinine.