welfare trap
Benefits discourage employment
A welfare trap is a situation where receiving government benefits discourages work because earning income would reduce or eliminate those benefits, leaving the person no better off financially.
The term is used critically to describe how means-tested programs can create perverse incentives: She turned down the promotion because it would push her into the welfare trap.
Also called a poverty trap or benefits trap.
- disincentiveFactor discouraging action
- benefitsGains or helpful effects
- government assistanceState-provided support for citizens
- povertySevere lack of resources
- economic mobilityMovement between income levels
public assistance · means testing · unemployment · income thresholds · entitlements · marginal tax rate · cliff · precarity · dependency · breaking free · food stamps · subsidies · social security · stuck · generational · struggling · working poor · making ends meet
welfare trapeconomic ladder
Wealth-based class hierarchy
upward mobility · social mobility · self-sufficiency · economic independence · career pathway
welfare trapsafety net
Protection against failure
social safety net · hand up · workfare · universal basic income
welfare trapsafety net
Protection against failure
social safety net · temporary assistance · cushion · soft landing
well, trap, fare, welfare, farewell, well-being, trapping, entrapment, welfarism