workfare

American  

[wuhrk-fair] / ˈwʌrkˌfɛər /

noun

1. a governmental plan under which welfare recipients are required to accept public-service jobs or to participate in job training.

---

workfare British  

/ ˈwɜːkˌfɛə /

noun

1. a scheme under which the government of a country requires unemployed people to do community work or undergo job training in return for social-security payments

---

Etymology

Origin of workfare

First recorded in 1965–70; work + (wel)fare

Example Sentences

Seizing on the 1996 welfare reform act, the Giuliani administration started an ambitious workfare program.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

The JG should not devolve to either workfare or welfare … Workers can be fired for cause — with grievance procedures established to protect their rights, and with conditions on rehiring into the program.

From Salon • Jun. 5, 2019

The number of people on Germany’s workfare scheme, Hartz IV, is also lower here than anywhere in the rest of the country.

From The Guardian • Sep. 10, 2016

Similar results have been noted by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corp., a nonprofit group that has been evaluating the workfare programs.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 14, 2016

This is actually a fairly decent approach to the poverty problem - though I would suggest that workfare at a living wage would be more appropriate.

From Definition & Reality in the General Theory of Political Economy by Colignatus, Thomas