Pam Keith on Welfare & Poverty

Pay private businesses to train welfare recipients

I propose a fairly simple idea for a pilot program: rather than paying unemployment benefits or welfare directly to unemployed individuals, the government could pay private businesses to train and employ these individuals. For a period of 3 years, the government would fully subsidize the employees' compensation, and would waive the requirement for the business to pay payroll taxes for the employee. And in exchange, the business would train and employ the individuals and help them to develop real, marketable skills. Participation in this program would be purely voluntary on the part of both the individual and the business.