Social Welfare Law Commons^™

Replace Welfare For Contingent Workers With Unemployment Compensation, Stephen Bingham

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This essay examines the manner in which the current unemployment insurance system maintains poverty and increases dependence on public assistance programs. It examines the plight of the working poor, the inadequacy of unemployment compensation, and the failure of welfare to compensate for the weaknesses of the unemployment system. It then proposes reforms to the unemployment compensation system, and a new system for employable individuals without ties to the workforce, explaining why this proposal makes sense in light of the current unemployment situation.