workfaren.
/ˈwəːkfɛː/, U.S. /ˈwərkˌfɛ(ə)r/ Originally and chiefly U.S.
A welfare system which requires those receiving benefits to carry out some work or undergo vocational training. Cf. welfare-to-work n. at welfare n. Phrases.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > philanthropy > [noun] > social service provided by (local) government > benefit provided by state > policy of work in exchange for
workfare1968
1968 Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Daily Jrnl. 22 Feb. 7/1 He [sc. Charles Evers] proposes what he calls a program of ‘workfare’ featuring government-guaranteed jobs paying at least $50 a week.
1969 R. Nixon in Washington Post 9 Aug. 1/2 What America needs now is not more welfare but more ‘workfare’.
1985 Times 12 Feb. 14/5 There must be a real inducement to work. In the US a number of states have introduced ‘Workfare’ to complement welfare.
1995 J. D. Davey New Social Contract ii. 33 More than two-thirds of the states have experimented with workfare; in most cases the recipients lost their Medicaid and had no subsidized child care.
2012 Independent (Nexis) 25 Oct. 30 Michael Bichard, who was once one of Whitehall's most senior civil servants, thinks that pensioners should be on workfare.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1968