Welfare: A Government Program in the US

In the United States, the word â€Å"welfare† is familiar to everyone. People usually consider welfare as government programs that distribute public assistance to the poor and low income people. However, some people, who are able to work, take advantage of or depend too much on welfare, and they consider welfare as their main source of income. To stop their dependence on welfare, the government should put those who are on welfare into the labor area and keep them there. Besides, the government should change their way of thinking about welfare and make recipients realize the goal of work and self-sufficiency. In order to accomplish this change, the government should replace the existing welfare by education and training programs. Some welfare recipients depend too much and take advantage of welfare. The sponsors of immigrants must be responsible for taking care of their family. However, they refuse to take their responsibility, and they consider that welfare must help them. For example, one sponsor in Orange County, California placed her parents on welfare even though she owned a $450,000 home and easily could afford to provide for their well-being. However, she notified the welfare agency that her elderly parents either would have to start paying rent or move out (Smith 31). Besides, welfare pays substantially more than recipients could earn from entry-level job (Tanner et al. 22). That is the reason why welfare recipients do not likely to look for job. As a result, if people can earn the same income by either working or not working, most people will choose not to work. In contrast, other people such as elders, retarded or disabled individuals, and single parent deserve to receive government assistance; however, they do not get as much as they need because the government provides welfare to both deserving and undeserving people. This will create an unbalancing gap between people. Those who really need welfare can not get enough; meanwhile, others receive more than what they need. Therefore, the government should provide welfare to deserving people who really need assistance and jobs to those who are able to work. In the article â€Å"Welfare Pays Better, So Why Work? † of USA Today Magazine, the authors state â€Å"Nearly everyone agrees that a major goal should be to encourage recipients to leave the welfare rolls and enter the workforce† (Tanner et al. 22). In order to encourage recipients to enter the workforce, the government should limit welfare because welfare is a source of income which recipients do not have to work to earn, so why do they have to work? Besides, welfare recipients must realize that welfare only helps them in short period of time. After that they have to be on their own because there is no one else can help them forever. If there is less welfare, working becomes the only source of income which they can depend on. Indeed, limiting welfare is parallel with seeking job. Once welfare is limited, labor force is the only place where they can get help. In order to encourage recipients to work, the government should create employment programs which assist recipients to look for job, to train and to gain skills. Although the employment programs might cost the nation more money in short term, they will be worth it in the long term. First, the government should persuade private employers to create more job opportunities for welfare recipients, and also welfare recipients should be required to participate in education and training programs. Besides, more employment services and job search assistance should be establish to help welfare recipients to have an easier time finding jobs. In addition, welfare money should be used to subsidize for education and training programs because these programs can provide skills and train them in order to meet the new demands of the labor market and meet the employer's specific needs. Furthermore, unemployment offices would no longer distinguish between those who were recently laid off and those who have been on welfare. Each person would be evaluated on the basis of what services she or he needs in order to obtain employment. Hence, everyone all has same opportunity to enter the workforce. Instead of improving the welfare programs, the government should look at them as an opportunity to create a more comprehensive employment programs that would replace the old welfare and public assistance programs. For this to occur, the government should create education and training programs to provide skills and train people in order to ensure all those who want to work are able to do so. Besides, more employment services should be established to assist people to look for job easier, and private employment creates more jobs to encourage people to work. Also, equal opportunity should be applied to everyone. As a result, all these programs should be shared a single goal: to enable people to work.