Shifting the Harmful Narratives and Practices of Work Requirements

Work requirements for public assistance programs come from a long history of racism in the United States, are ineffective, and are bad for the economy. So, what keeps them alive today? 

Means-tested forms of structural racism, such as requiring a person to work to receive public benefits, depend not only on ineffective, exclusionary, and economically unsound policies but also on damaging and inaccurate narratives rooted in racism and sexism. These harmful narratives create the conditions for a society that fails to equitably provide for its people and then punishes them when they need help.