Give a carrot, not a handout

EVERY year at budget time we hear the usual poor-mouth statements from people representing the long-term unemployed.

While nobody can deny the validity of claims by those who have, through unfortunate circumstances, found themselves jobless, the constant labelling of the long-term unemployed as the least fortunate in our society must be challenged.

Our social welfare system is flawed in that people can be better off by not working. Who can blame the jobless when so many entitlements are lost by getting on the lower rungs of the jobs ladder? There is often little or no incentive to work a 40-hour week. Despite this, the budget is consistently lambasted for not being generous enough to those on social welfare.