Does getting tough on the unemployed work?

piece in today’s guardian on Lawrence Mead .... ‘the academic behind the US’s tough welfare system who is bringing his message to Britain’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jun/16/lawrence-mead-tough-us-welfare-unemployed

It seems the huffpost is more likely to get me in to trouble with the IT police than anything else.

“Does getting tough on the unemployed work?”

there have to be some jobs .... which is why the idea often doesn’t work

(do we all intend the pun?)

I should imagine if the question is rephrased to ” Does getting tough on the unemployed get them off benefit?” then the answer is yes. Which of course is the means to the end.

You could work 12/13hours at NMW and get the same roughly as you would on the dole for 30hrs ‘activity’ without having to sign on.

I’m sure the intention is that anyone signing on will take the carrot rather than the big stick of ‘Work for your benefits.’

As to the question Does getting tough on the unemployed work? Depends on what your aim is and how you measure your results.