Welfare reform

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced a series of legislation known as the War on Poverty in response to a persistently high poverty rate around 20%.[4] He funded programs such as Social Security, and Welfare programs Food Stamps, Job Corps, and Head Start.[5] The War on Poverty included new federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which provided seniors, low-income individuals, and other disadvantaged groups with health insurance coverage. Furthermore, the US Government began providing direct assistance to school districts, passed sweeping environmental protections, instituted urban renewal projects, furthered civil rights protections, and expanded funding for the arts and humanities.[6]

President Richard Nixon's administration proposed the 1969 Family Assistance Plan,[7] which instituted a work requirement for all welfare recipients except mothers with children under age three. This requirement was removed in 1972 amidst criticism from liberals that the plan provided too little support and having excessively stringent work requirements. Ultimately, the Nixon Administration presided over the continued expansion of major welfare programs.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan cut Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) spending[8] and allowed states to require welfare recipients to participate in workfare programs. Charles Murray's book Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950–1980 (1984) argued that the welfare state actually harms the poor, especially single-parent families, by making them increasingly dependent on the government, and discouraging them from working.[9] Murray proposed that current welfare programs be replaced by short-term local programs.[10]

Overall decline in welfare monthly benefits (in 2006 dollars)[11]

In his 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton promised to “end welfare as we have come to know it.” Staying true to his promise, he instated one of the most well-known welfare reforms in U.S. history.[12] On August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), which aligned closely with Murray's views.[13] PRWORA instituted the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) to replace the AFDC, the welfare program which had provided cash to poor families since 1935. TANF instated work restrictions for recipients to qualify for aid. TANF also shifted welfare spending to state governments. Each state was allotted a sum of money to be used for the program, provided that they instituted work requirements and allowed families to stay on the program for a maximum of five-years.[14]

Since then, other welfare programs have transitioned to the shared model established by TANF. The Federal Government gives money to the states in the form of block grants, which allows states to make decisions on how to allocate welfare.[15]

In recent years reform of the welfare system in Britain began with the introduction of the New Deal programme [16] introduced by the Labour government in 1997. The aim of this programme was to increase employment through requiring that recipients make serious efforts to seek employment. The Labour Party also introduced a system of tax credits for low-income workers.[17]

The Welfare Reform Act 2007 provides for "an employment and support allowance, a contributory allowance, [and] an income-based allowance.".[18] The objectives of the Welfare Reform Act of 2007 were to increase the employment rate to 80% from 75%, to assist 300,000 single parents find employment, to increase the number of workers over 50 by 1 million, and to reduce the number of people claiming incapacity benefits by 2 million

This welfare reform proposed an increase of personal responsibility within the welfare system. The reform eliminated Income support, and allocated funds over to the Jobseeker's allowance, to encourage employment. It also encouraged increased parental responsibility by amending child support laws, and requiring births be registered jointly by both parents.[19]

This welfare reform proposed changes to the Housing Benefit, which reduced the benefit paid to recipients depending on the size of their living space. This act got the nickname of the “Bedroom Tax.” from the media.[20] It was stated that similarly to other welfare reforms, this act would reduce welfare dependency.[21]

Beginning in the mid-1970s, a deficit in the social insurance program began to appear. The deficit saw peaks at 27.75% of the social insurance budget in 1992. This led to a major push by the government to cut back spending in the welfare program. By the end of the 1990s the deficit had been almost completely eradicated. The often large deficits that the program has endured has led to a tremendous amount of opposition to the program as it stands.

In February 2020, a pension overhaul was adopted by decree using Article 49 of the French constitution.[22]

During the 2015–2018 Brazilian economic crisis, there has been both economic and political turmoil. President Dilma Rousseff, who was later impeached and replaced by President Michel Temer, strived to expand the social welfare program Bolsa Família instated by her predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. As a social-democrat, Rousseff pledged that "Brazil will continue to grow, with social inclusion and mobility."[23] When Michel Temer took office, to cope with the severe economic recession, he proposed social welfare reforms to change labor rules and the social security pension system. Temer's plan included limiting pension benefits and raising the retirement age in order to save money and fix the economy. Additionally, under his reform, companies have greater power to require longer work days and use part-time workers. In response to this reform, labor unions, rural workers, and government employees held protests all over Brazil.[24] The vote to approve the pension reform was first suspended until February 2018, and now has been further postponed as a campaign issue in this year's election. Temer's critics believe that the reason for the postponed reform is its vast public disapproval.[25]