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.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of workfare

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

workfare

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

Nearly half the states, including California, have been experimenting with some kind of "workfare," requiring welfare recipients to participate in intensive job searches, and sometimes community work, in return for their checks.

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