Cashfor Work and Workfare: Proposing an Agenda for a Welfare Society by AnalyzingAssistance for Recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake

DOI Web Site

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • キャッシュ・フォー・ワークとワークフェア
  • キャッシュ・フォー・ワークとワークフェア : 東日本大震災からの復興支援にみる福祉社会の課題
  • キャッシュ ・ フォー ・ ワーク ト ワークフェア : ヒガシニホン ダイシンサイ カラ ノ フッコウ シエン ニ ミル フクシ シャカイ ノ カダイ
  • 東日本大震災からの復興支援にみる福祉社会の課題

Search this article

Abstract

This article proposes an agenda for a welfare society through comparing cash for work (CFW) with workfare. CFW programs employ victims of a disaster as workers on reconstruction projects (at below-market wages). Although CFW may be useful for tsunami disasters, which require short-term relief, it does not function well for other disasters and cannot respond to those who were the working poor or unemployed before earthquake. In the recent event, multiple disasters were linked inextricably with each other, and social problems existing prior to and resulting from the disasters also overlapped inextricably. It seems that recovery will take a long time. Therefore, in the disaster-stricken region, it is not enough only to ensure jobs; income security needs to be provided for a long time. The current systems of unemployment insurance and job-seeker support do not provide adequate income security, so public assistance is expected to play an important role, but there are many difficulties in using public assistance for disaster relief. Both before and after the disasters, arguments about reform of public assistance have leaned consistently in the direction of workfare. Workfare is a policy that forces employable public-assistance recipients to work. However, if there are not enough other forms of assistance, CFW does not function well, seems to act as workfare, or changes into something like it. CFW and workfare have similar purposes: to support self-sufficiency and reduce dependency on relief. In addition, they share a similar problem: they cannot offer support to less-employable people. In conclusion, in order to recover from this disaster and set an agenda for welfare society, it is important to expand income security through public assistance, which would make CFW function well.

Journal

Related Projects

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top