Ten years ago, former US president Bill Clinton signed welfare reform into law. As he points out this week in The New York Times, “it has proved a great success”. Since 1996, welfare rolls have plummeted from 12.2 million to 4.5 million; 60% of the mothers who left welfare found work and the poverty rate among single mothers has fallen from 50% in 1995 to 42% today.
“Tough love works,” says The Economist. The reform put a five-year lifetime limit on welfare, prompting people to find a job; this was balanced by incentives, such as more generous financial support for low-income earners through the Earned Income Tax Credit. A strong economy has helped, but the key reason for sliding welfare rolls is the “welfare to work” programme.
In Britain, US-style radical thinking on welfare is not on offer from any of the political parties, says The Business. The Government has never pursued comprehensive reform; its piecemeal efforts, such as reducing the appeal of disability benefit, triggered rebellions and discouraged further efforts.
The current Welfare Reform Bill is “hopeless”. Some new conditions will be attached to housing benefit and the new Employment and Support Allowance will become slightly harder to claim. But there will be no time limits on welfare or penalties for those who treat it as an open-ended lifestyle. We still have 4.3 million people on some form of benefit, while “hard-working Polish immigrants” are scooping up new jobs, says The Independent’s Dominic Lawson. “What a legacy.”