Over the past 46 years that I’ve been part of America’s job training system, work requirements for government benefits have been proposed several times.

Each time these work rules have been initially denounced by opponents as “cruel,” “punitive,” “blaming the victim” — with accompanying fears that benefit recipients were not ready to be employed and would lose needed benefits. Yet each time work requirements have been implemented, they have resulted in increased employment and other life benefits for a significant segment of participants, their families and local communities. Those are the metrics by which to measure success; reducing the rolls of benefit programs has not been the main goal sought by advocates of previous work requirements.

The results have been documented over the years

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