Meanings
plural welfare traps
- USA situation where the welfare system discourages people who receive government public assistance payments from entering low-paid work because such work does not produce a significant income increase.
Mr. Hayakawa said there was "a class of able-bodied persons who would rather collect public assistance than take jobs". . . . Cutting off food stamp benefits to these people, he said, would remove a disincentive to work, "close off one of the doors into the welfare trap."
1982 August 23, Robert Pear, “Getting tougher on work rules for food stamps”, in New York Times, retrieved 09 Nov 2015Synonyms: unemployment trap
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA situation where the welfare system discourages people who receive government public assistance payments from entering low-paid work because such work does not produce a significant income increase.
Translations
Danish arbejdsløshedsfælde
- arbejdsløshedsfældesituation
Dutch werkloosheidsval
- werkloosheidsvalsituation
Finnish kannustinloukku
- kannustinloukkusituation
French trappe à inactivité
- trappe à inactivitésituation
German Arbeitslosigkeitsfalle
- Arbeitslosigkeitsfallesituation
Hebrew מלכודת הרווחה
- מלכודת הרווחהsituation
Italian trappola della disoccupazione
- trappola della disoccupazionesituation
Portuguese armadilha do desemprego
- armadilha do desempregosituation
Spanish trampa del desempleo
- trampa del desempleosituation
Swedish arbetslöshetsfälla
- arbetslöshetsfällasituation
Cite this entry
welfare trap. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/welfare%20trap
“welfare trap.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/welfare%20trap. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “welfare trap,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/welfare%20trap.
Source: welfare trap on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.