Role of Welfare in Our Society: Analytical Essay

That is the role that individuals on welfare play in society and what is the welfare system doing to incentivize individuals to work towards a lifestyle that isn’t supported by welfare?

Welfare plays a big role in our society today as it allows people to sustain themselves until they’re able to find a job to support them self. Without it these people may become homeless and unable to provide for their family or children. Children benefit from welfare as they are able to attend school with the basic supplies necessary, without these supplies their learning is impacted greatly. Since welfare is intended to be short-term the government has many social services programs that are provided to citizens on welfare to slowly get them off of it. There are also many requirements to be able to get your welfare check every month by making people do these things it is any hope that they will look for a job they do not have to continue doing these things.

Welfare was introduced in Canada in the 1960s and it is now a multi billion dollar system that has grown over the decades. In the 1950s big changes happened to the welfare system also known as the welfare state at the time, a major permanent program was introduced for the funding of social assistance called the unemployment assistant act. Fast forward another 20 years to the 1970s when social spending started to increase due to the range and expansion of social service programs between 1964 and 1973. This new funding allowed income security to improve, particularly for the elderly due to the Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement. Parents at the time were also able to receive a larger degree of income support for their children from funding from the federal Family Allowance. Child welfare greatly improved due to the Canada Assistance Plan resulting in expansion of access to post secondary education. Unfortunately unemployment grew and programs such as social assistance and unemployment insurance started to give more income to people who were temporarily unable to provide for themselves. All of this public spending had caught up and was evident in the mid 1970s when there had been an economic decline after a 10 year growth. A major thing that had helped with the amount of money that was given out to people was the growth of food programs, food banks, and homeless shelters in the 1980s. The growth was due to the rising cost of living in major cities and the growth of unemployment, social assistance and low paying jobs were becoming not enough. Social welfare has been in decline over the decades as people are not getting enough money, causing them to become homeless as they cannot afford the cost of living. This problem will continue to get worse as the population ages and will require long-term care and home care which both cost money, meaning if the population does not save enough for retirement they will be requiring assistance from the government. This means that there is a great need to expand the canada pension plan to prevent more elderly from accessing social services as they dont get much money to be able to pay for care. In 1986 BC employable recipients of welfare had an income of just over $8,000 and that increased to just over $10,000 in 1994, things took a turn for the worst as they became lower 30 years later. As of 2016 a single employable person only received approximately $7,820. single people with disabilities received much more, Incomes reached a high $14,312 in 1994. Although it’s had its ups and downs it’s ended at $11,725 in 2016.With Transportation getting more expensive as the years go on in BC the disability assistance program was changed and a monthly transportation support allowance was incorporated into their rate structure, as well as a $25 monthly benefit increase. When comparing the amount of income that a single parent with one child under the age of 2 receives from 1998 to 2016 there’s not much of a difference. In the past receiving this low of income for single parent was manageable but the cost of living has increased drastically and the amount that they currently receive can barely cover the cost of living. The lower income over the years has made people that are able to work look for full-time or part-time jobs to get additional income on top of their welfare income, and hopefully make enough to stop receiving welfare.

Welfare is a type of social assistance that is provided by the government to help people with their income and help if they are unable to have a job due to a disability. Unfortunately not everyone is not eligible to receive income assistance therefore each province has their own set of rules, eligibility and criteria. In order for households to access income assistance assets and income must fall under a certain limit that is set by the province that they’re currently living in.People that are eligible for work and do not have a job must be looking for a job while you are receiving income assistance. All of the job search efforts must be documented In order for you to receive your monthly welfare income, if this is not done you will not receive your welfare income for the month.You must include names employers that that you have contacted dates and what type of work you were looking for. Households that qualify for social systems in BC may also qualify for other financial support such as federal and provincial child tax benefits for households with children, recurring additional social assistance payments such as annual back-to-school allowance or provincial tax credits or benefits. All of these combined with basic social assistance form the total welfare income for households. Households may receive more income assistance if they have a disability or special health needs whereas others may receive less if they have other sources of income. There are many myths that the general public has about welfare that are completely false, many people think that they get free money so they can be lazy and not find a job. In reality people that are on social assistance that currently don’t have jobs wouldn’t be able to afford to live in the lower mainland, the government doesn’t want to give these people too much money to the point where they can just live off social assistance and not look for work. The government doesn’t want workers to quit their jobs in the belief that welfare will provide them an income that they can live off of. Statistics from 2013 show that 63% of people that were receiving welfare had a disability which restricted the person’s ability to perform daily living activities. 24% where were civilians that are able to work and are expected to search for and accept employment. 7% includes parents with children under the age of 3 who have physical or mental conditions and seniors over the age of 64, these people are temporarily excused from working. These statistics show that people receiving welfare are not all homeless and just getting free money from the government. Over the years from 2009 to 2013 statistics show that employable people typically spent 1-3 months welfare. Whereas people with Disability typically spent 5-9 years on income assistance, this is a huge gap compared to employable people. Welfare is designed to be short-term for people that are able to get jobs. 61% of people that are on welfare or single adults while another 10% are single parents, most of these people fall between the ages of 20 and 59 years old.

Without welfare, many people would be homeless or live in extreme poverty welfare allows these people to have a chance to make their lives better and integrate back into society. It can also have a positive effect on children that are in low-income families, the extra income allows these children to get the supplies they need to receive proper education in school. Sadly these children May have more of a disadvantage they may do worse in school and their health may be worse. Children and their parents may lack motivation or simply may just be discouraged due to their living situations and other misfortune. Studies show that Low income had Direct effects on children’s well-being and development, such as their cognitive ability, engagement and achievement in school , and their behavior and anxiety levels. It is shown that long-term poverty has a greater effect on When children’s outcomes than short-term periods.Low income does not allow parents to invest in goods and services that will help to further their child’s development, there is also a lot of stress and anxiety that parents suffer that is caused by low income. Research shows that increasing income can reduce maternal depression which is known to be important for children’s outcomes. Is shown income has a greater effect younger ages for example every additional dollar earlier in childhood to each seven and having larger effect for lower-income families compared to higher-income families whereas later in childhood the effect is the same regardless of the income