Reply to How does public assistance (welfare) work?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
If by the 3rd or 4th of the month you have nothing left, how do you live for the rest of the month? 
[/quote]

NP here.  I've worked for most of the last 22 years in a local soup kitchen.  I can say from experience that you can always tell when welfare checks come out.  The attendance at the soup kitchen drops sharply.  Over the next 2-4 weeks, the attendance will increase steadily as people use up their welfare checks.  As has been pointed out, many of them do not have basic life skills for taking care of themselves and budgeting.  They really don't understand that spending $5 on groceries will last them longer and they will be able to save more money for other things, than spending $5 on a quick meal at McDonald's.  Some of them live in the local dive motel for 1-2 weeks and then they go and live under the bridge for the last couple of weeks of the month (during warm weather) or they go to the shelter for the rest of the month.  Some shack up together.  It is not unusual to have 8-10 guys sharing a motel room for the night.

Although there are many like this, there are also many who are the ones that the system was set up for.  I knew one guy who worked as a mechanics assistant.  He worked at three shops, but they only gave him a few hours each.  He would work anywhere from 8 hours to 24 hours per week at these shops.  when he worked 20 or more hours, he would be able to catch up on his meager rent and feed himself for a few days.  When he worked less, he would be in the soup kitchen.  I always loved shifts when this guy didn't show up...it usually meant he was working more.

As for those who ask why some people stay on unemployment or welfare instead of getting a job?  There are many jobs out there that pay less than these people get from unemployment or welfare benefit checks.  If you can get a minimum wage job, but it only gives you 24 hours per week of work, you probably get less take-home pay than your welfare/unemployment check.  If that's the case, then you stay on welfare/unemployment as long as you can and you only worry about trying to find a job when the benefits dry up.

The system is great for those who it was designed for.  For the chronic unemployed, it needs a major overhaul.[/quote]

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