A Review On U.S. Workfare Program

Since Clinton promised ' to end welfare as we know it ' and promoted the welfare reform in 1996, the workfare program has been enacted for over ten years. Welfare dependency had been a long-term problem in the western welfare states, and the expanding welfare expenditure finally brought the welfare reform into effect. Led by the United States, the western industrial nations aimed to solve the welfare problems by forcing the welfare recipients to do mandatory work; the social assistance policy shifted from traditional subsidy to compulsory work, which was also the substance of the workfare. This article is devoted into the development, effects and theoretical analysis of the workfare program in the United States, in the hope of putting forward some useful advice on the social security system in China.Focusing on the US workfare experience, this article is mainly composed of five parts. The preface has a brief description of the significance of the topic, and distinguishes some conception related to workfare. Part 2 deals with the development, connotation and characteristics of the workfare program in the United States, to further expound its origin and feature. Workfare had been largely impelled by the academics, but also brought out lots of debates among. Therefore, Part 3 mainly presents some views on the workfare concept argued by both the proponents and opponents. Part 4 examines the results of the American workfare program in practice, including the positive aspects and the limits as well. Following on the fore arguments and learning from the workfare experience in the U.S., I explore some suggestions such as the combination between the welfare and employment in Part 5, to seek getting some useful hints on the improvement of the social security in China,...