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What happens when you require welfare recipients to work in order to get a state check? Maine might be a good example.
Since 2008, the food stamp caseload of adults without dependents who are able-bodied has more than doubled nationally to around 5 million today.
They gained notoriety when Fox News aired a documentary on food stamps featuring 29-year-old Jason Greenslate, a Californian who reported that he spends his time surfing and playing in his rock band, all the while receiving benefits from the food stamp program.
In response to the growth in food stamp dependence, Maine governor Paul LePage established work requirements on recipients who are without dependents and able-bodied.
Now, they are required to take a job, participate in training, or perform community service.
Job openings for lower-skill workers are abundant in Maine, and for those recipients who cannot find immediate employment, Maine offers both training and community service slots.
But despite vigorous outreach efforts by the government to encourage participation, most childless adult recipients in Maine refused to participate. They lost their food stamp benefits.
In the first three months after Maine’s work policy went into effect, its caseload of able-bodied adults without dependents plummeted by 80 percent.
The results are not without precedent: When work requirements were established in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program in the 1990s, nationwide caseloads dropped by almost as much.