Just a point to add, not sure what it is like in the U.S. but in the UK there are vast numbers of families
in work but also claiming benefits of some form or other.
People tend to assume that only the sick, elderly, disabled and unemployed claim benefits.
But truth be told that if the millions of working families were paid a fair wage, then salaries would not
need to be topped up by benefits.
There is a perennial problem of unscrupulous employers paying peanuts, so much so that the
government has had to bring in a minimum wage. Even that is the bare minimum but
in some ways it has backfired as a lot of employers use it as the bench mark for setting low salaries
rather than seeing it for what it is.
However many employers have even managed to get around that by bringing in zero hour
contracts. In other words they employ you but won't guarantee you any work. This brings massive
instability to people's lives.
Q&A: What are zero-hours contracts? - BBC News
If people were paid a fair day's pay for a fair days work then far less would have to fall back on benefits
and this would save the government millions. As it is the government is propping up people's salaries.
Not sure if there is a similar scenario in the U.S. But in the UK at least, it's not quite so clear cut as
stating people should work for their money. Most are but it amounts to peanut for many.
When people find themselves better off financially on unemployment benefit (despite how low
this is), than they would in work. Then closer attention has to be given to the rate of pay.
