# Factual data: how many "welfare queens" versus the unvoluntarily unemployed of good will ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-data-how-many-welfare-queens-versus-the-unvoluntarily-unemployed-of-good-will/571295 "2011-02-14T13:57:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-data-how-many-welfare-queens-versus-the-unvoluntarily-unemployed-of-good-will/571295/61 "2011-02-21T14:22:01Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I’ve heard that the average person knows about 200 persons well enough to know if about their economic circumstances. So the odds are that everyone will knows at least one welfare abuser in his or her lifetime. And not count the other 98 who will not abuse the system. That sounds about right. You are making an error, as you have not factored in the number of people on welfare altogether. Chances are that all the 200 people you know are not on welfare. I also have never met anyone who has abused welfare. I’m probably the closest, as I didn’t go get a job at McDonald’s when I turned 16 as I couldn’t afford the pay decrease and instead used my time to keep my grades up (as no one with good grades at my school had a job) so that I’d be able to walk into a better paying job. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-data-how-many-welfare-queens-versus-the-unvoluntarily-unemployed-of-good-will/571295/62 "2011-02-21T14:43:19Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I’ve heard that the average person knows about 200 persons well enough to know if about their economic circumstances. So the odds are that everyone will knows at least one welfare abuser in his or her lifetime. And not count the other 98 who will not abuse the system. That sounds about right. 50 percent of the people the average person knows are on welfare? ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-data-how-many-welfare-queens-versus-the-unvoluntarily-unemployed-of-good-will/571295/63 "2011-02-21T15:38:17Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > 50 percent of the people the average person knows are on welfare? No, the average person knows 200 persons. Of those, half will be eligible for some kind of benefit at least for some time (even just weeks or months) in their life. Being in between jobs, ill, disabled… If the abuse ratio is one or two percent, odds are one of the people I know will fraud the system at some point in their lives. For me, that sounds about right. I have two ladies who would qualify as welfare queens in my extended cicle of contacts. But they do make an considerable larger impression (they annoyed me disproportionately) then the other 98 percent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-data-how-many-welfare-queens-versus-the-unvoluntarily-unemployed-of-good-will/571295.md?page=3)