Welfare is a large part of our nation's budget, and it can take many different forms. It can take the form of monetary payments, career training, child care, and many other kinds of assistance. Some forms of welfare can increase unemployment, and other kinds are shown to decrease it. Giving people checks for doing nothing can increase unemployment. There is a positive correlation between the amount of money given in welfare checks to the unemployment rate in a given state. There are exceptions to this, but it tends to hold true overall for the most part. Job training programs, another aspect of welfare, have a negative correlation with unemployment. When the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was passed in 1996 it helped to create incentives for people to return to work. It provides career training, limits the amount of time that an individual can receive government funds, and requires that program participants work again after a certain amount of time in the program. Funding for welfare to work programs is often limited. Welfare in our country should receive some funding, however the programs within welfare as a whole that receive our money should be ones that encourage people to return to work and give them the ability, they need to achieve financial independence like welfare to work programs.
References
Welfare Payout Numbers Listed By State, That You Might Find STUNNING! (thefederalistpapers.org)