The Concept of Employment in Social Welfare Programs: The Need for Change in Concept and Practice

Social welfare and social work practice are based upon and limited by concepts concerning the role of work in society. These include coverage, vestedness, administration, and the wage-stop. As human labor becomes quantitatively less important in the technological society, and as attitudes toward work change, the role of social work should become proactive -leading toward necessary and desirable changes, including new meanings of the concept work and new methods of distributing income, rather than continuing to attempt to shore up an increasingly outmoded systems of values and structures. In examining the content of the major social work textbooks published in the United States during the 1970s, Ephross and Reisch (1982) identify the basic ideological positions of the authors, distinguishing between those that view social welfare and social work as concerned primarily with the socioeconomic system; those that deal mostly with individual differences; and those that attempt to do both. In none of these books, however, including that of this author (Macarov, 1978), is the immanence of the concept of employment throughout welfare programs posited as a major determinant of the welfare systems and social work. It is the purpose of this paper, therefore, to point out the ubiquitousness of the work/welfare link throughout social welfare programs, and to trace the deleterious results of that link in terms of the individual and social problems caused. The work/welfare link The connection between work and welfare expresses itself in a number of ways. When social insurance programs are adopted, the first such program undertaken is almost invariably workmen's compensation, which assures workers and potential workers that they can enter the labor force without fear of uncompensated injuries. Unemployment insurance, on the other hand, is usually the last such program to be adopted, since it is generally seen as helping or inducing people not to work. Workmen's compensation generally pays more than unemployment insurance, is easier to obtain, and is not limited as to duration. Surveys indicate that unemployment compensation has much less public support than has workmen's compensation and, indeed, than has any other social insurance program (Macarov, 1980). The link between work and welfare can also be seen in terms of coverage, vestedness, administration, and the wage stop. From 72% to 100% of all social insurance programs in every country in the world limit coverage to workers, employees, laborers, or some other designation of employed persons. People who do not work are simply not entitled to partake of these programs that are designed to protect people against the exigencies of life. Even Family or children's allowances are generally paid only to the families or children or workers (Social Security Programs . . ., 1977). Being covered, however does not assure one of benefits. Almost all programs require a certain amount of prior work (termed "vestedness") to entitle the covered employee to benefits. The length of time worked and the salary received usually determine the number of payments made, and their amounts. Large numbers of workers are denied payments because they have not yet worked long enough to be eligible, despite the fact that they have paid in the necessary 'premiums' while they did work. Then there are the administrative regulations designed to strengthen presumed incentives to work. These include a waiting period before drawing benefits (Griffiths, 1974); proof of continuing job search; personal appearances at the labor exchange; and taking almost any job offered, at any salary under any conditions. None of these requirements are attached to other types of programs, including maternity grants, invalidity, etc. Finally, and perhaps most important, there is the factor known as the wage-stop. This is a direct outgrowth of the Elizabethan concept of less eligibility. The wage-stop, which is almost universal through all welfare programs, makes it virtually impossible to acquire from welfare as much as the person could acquire from working, or as much as other people acquire from working. This limitation also operates upon those people who cannot or should not work -the aged, children, the disabled, single parents, etc. In thus linking welfare payments to salary levels rather than need, the work/welfare link dooms from 10% to 15% of the populations of every Western industrialized nation to poverty (Macarov, 1980). But social insurance programs are not the only aspect of social welfare to be based upon the needs of the world of work. Social workers in their daily jobs spend enormous amounts of time inducing people to go to work and solving problems arising from work, viz., the burgeoning field of occupation social workers. Social workers seek child-care arrangements so that mothers can enter the labor market. Indeed, the recent enormous growth of childcare facilities did not spring from data or an ideology that such care was better for children than that of their parents, but rather from the phenomenon of women entering the labor force. Home-care service for the aged and the ill are arranged by social workers to allow family members who would otherwise have to stay home to go to work. In addition work is seen as both the goal and the method of treatment in rehabilitation efforts; sheltered workshops; in probation and parole; and in a myriad of other ways. Attitudes toward work At the heart of these efforts is the belief, shared by social workers, that full employment is not only possible, but a necessary and desirable goal for society; while work is viewed as good for individuals from points of view of their physical and mental health, their economic situation, and self-actualization as happy, normal people. It is no surprise that social workers hold these views, as they are shared by the overwhelming majority of the population. Indeed, socialization for and into the world of work begins almost at infancy. Children learn on the see-saw that Jack shall have a new master, and that he shall get but a penny a day because he can't work any faster. Students are told to "work hard" at their "homework." Schools are criticized for not preparing graduates properly for their jobs. Religious teachings emphasize the Godliness, or at least the Biblical admonitions, concerning work, e.g., "Look to the ant, thou sluggard; consider his ways and be wise." Poems, songs, and fables, such as the grasshopper and the ant, or the hen who would not share her cake with any animal that had not helped bake it, re-emphasize work as the only acceptable basis for human existence. In fact, working -and being considered a good worker -has become a surrogate for being moral, religious, patriotic, and