My state is pretty much broke and this summer passed an enormous welfare cut to save money. One of my friends is a social worker and so through her I’ve been keeping tabs on how the system works over here.
What is welfare like in Europe, though? Especially what I’m wondering is: is there a stigma over there that accompanies being on the dole?
I’m not familiar with how you all do it, and I’m sure every country has different rules.
Let me clarify something first, though: I don’t want to know about people on disability (as in, people who are sick or something and can’t work), at least not right now. I’m talking about people who either can’t or won’t find a job that end up with the state supporting them.
Here, AFAIK to be on welfare you have to work, regardless of what state you’re in. Seems like I read that some states require X number of hours per week, etc.
Before reform back in 1996 or so, work was not required AFAIK. You could basically do nothing and get a check.
Even now, though, to be on welfare is a very bad thing socially, even if you do work. You’re a bum, lazy, etc. Not everybody thinks this, of course, but it’s still at the point that most people I know who are on it keep it quiet. (I imagine anti-welfare sentiment varies according what part of the US you’re in. It is heavily frowned upon here in West Virginia, which is weird because we probably have one of the highest per-capita welfare rates in the nation.)
What are the social implications over there? Does the government make you try to get a job? How much money does one get if they go on welfare? Is it enough to live on, etc.?
Here, assuming that you have no job, aren’t on disability and have exhausted your rights to unemployment benefit, you still get the “RMI” (minimum integration income). For a single person without children, I believe it’s around 400 €/month, and perhaps 600 € for a couple without children.
Besides this, you get free healthcare, housing allowance that pays part of your rent (I don’t know how much you could get), assuming of course that you found a place to rent, and if you have children family allowance and possibly single parent allowance (no clue about the amount, either). The social services can also sometimes cover some expense or another in case of dire need, but it’s not something you can rely upon. There are no food stamps.
The family allowances are given to everybody, regardless of the income. It only depends on the number of children. The housing alowances depend on a lot of factors, the main being your income. You don’t need to be on welfare to get them. You only have to make less than a given amount (in the 1000- 1500 €/ month range, I believe. I wouldn’t know for sure).
Theorically, if you get the RMI, you’re supposed to either attend a training, or to work part time for your town, county, etc… In practice, a lot of beneficiaries don’t do either, and particularily not the latter.
Assuming that you’re single, receiving both the RMI and a housing allowance, maybe it could amount to 700 €/ month or so, the housing part being paid directly to your landlord. But it’s a wild guess. Plus free healthcare.
I would note that your average homeless person is unlikely to be able to get a place to rent, hence won’t get the housing allowance, hence won’t find a place to rent, especially since you can’t get this benefit if your housing doesn’t meet some minimal standarts of comfort (in order to avoid subsidizing “sleep sellers” who would offer sub-standart housing). This is a perfect catch 22.
I forgot to mention that public day nurseries are rather widely available (more so than in most other EU countries, AFAIK, though they still don’t fully cover the needs), if you have babies or young children. Though if you’re living on welfare hence aren’t working, you wouldn’t need to rely on them. And free training is also relatively available.
To answer your last questions:
Being on welfare is perceived negatively, though I would suspect much less so than in the USA (on the basis of what I read on this board). The RMI hasn’t been well accepted by the population at large since it has been introduced during the 80’s. Accusations of lazyness or suspicions of moonlighting are commonplace. On the other hand, people don’t have much issues with welfare benefits received by people who have a job (except family allowance received by immigrants with large families). So people wouldn’t hide they’re getting a housing allowance, for instance.
If you’re part of a family with children, already have a roof above your head, don’t have debts, etc…I would tend to think you can get by with welfare, since you can maximize the benefits, especially if you’re living in a place were housing isn’t too costly. If you’re a single guy who gets evicted in Paris, relying only on the RMI, you’re screwed.
As I mentionned above, you’re supposed to work part time or follow a training when you live on welfare, but it’s not true at all in practice.
If you’re out of work, you get unemployment benefit. It’s a basic sum (£42/week IIRC) for you to support yourself, extra to support familiy members, and also you normally become eligible for housing benefit etc. To be receiving this you have to show you’re actively looking for work - you have regular meetings at the Jobcentre, and typically have to show that you’ve applied for two jobs a week. More recent developments are the “New Deal” systems, where people who’ve been on benefits for a long period are obliged to go into training, apprenticeships, etc in order to continue receiving the benefits. And IIRC if you make yourself unemployed, ie walk out of a job without good reason, you’re not entitled to anything more than the basic £42.
There’s some stigma, but nothing like what seems to be prevalent in the US. And although you said you didn’t want to know about disability, it’s worth pointing out that in many areas which have seen huge unemployment in recent years (mining and shipbuilding towns in particular), there was a covert but widespread encouragement for people to be moved off unemployment and onto disability benefits, which helped to bring the official unemployment figures down. In some such towns, there’s now twice as many people on sickness benefits as are offically unemployed.
Bumping just in case people didn’t see this.