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Welfare-use Accumulation and Chronic Dependency in Israel: The Role of Structural Factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2018

NETTA ACHDUT  and
HAYA STIER
NETTA ACHDUT
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 8410501, Israel email: [email protected]
HAYA STIER
Affiliation:
Department of Labor Studies and Department of Sociology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Contemporary welfare policies in many Western countries limit public assistance for the long-term unemployed and spur rapid movement into the labour market. These policies have substantially changed the trade-offs of employment and welfare-use behaviour, making employment far more attractive than welfare dependency. Despite this new reality, many welfare recipients circulate in and out of the welfare system and the low-wage labour market or become disconnected from both work and welfare. Drawing on longitudinal administrative data of single Israeli mothers who received Income Support Benefit in 2003, this study focuses on the role of structural factors, including local labour market conditions and local availability of subsidised child-care, in explaining the intensity of welfare receipt over a 51-month period. The results indicate notable diversity in welfare-use accumulation. Some mothers were classified as short- to mid-termer recipients while others showed a much more intensive use, and about a third were classified as chronically dependent. Local labour market conditions and their change over time played an important part in explaining welfare accumulation, while local child-care availability had no effect. Implications for policy are discussed.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 81 - 101
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

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