Don't paint with too big of a brush, Kc.  Back in 1992 when President Bill Clinton was in office, he implemented the Welfare to Work legislation and the Republicans hated him for it because it did force able body people to move off of welfare and into the job market.  Employers jumped on board  because they received a hefty tax credit for every welfare recipient that they put to work.  If you visit Alaska's DHS public assistance website, you'll discover that there's a limitation of how long an able body adult can draw public assistance, and then their eligibility stops.  Children are permitted to  be on public assistance until they turn 18.  There's a lot of moving parts to being eligible for welfare or public assistance.  Seventy-seven percent of people on public assistance is children.  Check out DHS' website and see for yourself.