workfare

noun

work·​fare ˈwərk-ˌfer How to pronounce workfare (audio)
: a welfare program in which recipients are required to perform usually public-service work

Examples of workfare in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web But they were employed no more legitimately, and less usefully, than the New Deal workfare participants. Conrad Black, National Review, 7 Apr. 2021 Job training and workfare programs have a pretty discouraging history. Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, 25 Apr. 2018 Though still high, deprivation has fallen by nearly half — not least in places like Siklosnagyfalu, where villagers benefit from their workfare wages. Patrick Kingsley and Benjamin Novak, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2018 Among these are workfare schemes, pensions, free school meals and cash handouts, sometimes conditional on recipients sending their children to school, getting them vaccinated and the like. The Economist, 12 Apr. 2018 For the last decade, the Indian government has been running a workfare program in villages throughout the country. Seema Jayachandran, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'workfare.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

work + welfare

First Known Use

1968, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of workfare was in 1968

Dictionary Entries Near workfare

Cite this Entry

“Workfare.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/workfare. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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