It's important to remember that the unemployed are just one small part of all non-workers that social-welfare programs are intended to assist. In addition to th

It's important to remember that the unemployed are just one small part of all non-workers that social-welfare programs are intended to assist. In addition to the unemployed, you have children, the elderly, the disabled, students, and unpaid caretakers. In the US at least, the burden for supporting many of these non-workers falls on their individual families. Why do you think such attention is paid to "welfare queens (and kings)" whenever the welfare state is brought up, even though they are just a fraction of one group that the welfare state is intended to support? Do you think it could be precisely because there's an easy narrative that gets people viscerally worked up about unfairness?