It is a wage subsidy for the working poor.
The state remedied this problem, in part, by distributing wage subsidies.
But that consensus behind wage subsidies for the poor is beginning to crack under pressure to balance the budget.
The main threat would appear to be a reduction in the wage subsidy provided from the "compensation fund".
In private, they worry that wage subsidies would encourage labor to become more militant.
The numbers look better when they include wage subsidies, called earned-income tax credits, which at these levels typically total about $3,000 a year.
Along with tougher welfare laws, the past decade has brought a service expansion in child care, health insurance and wage subsidies.
Mimicry plays a big role in the spread of wage subsidies.
In effect, the welfare grant becomes a wage subsidy.
Such a wage subsidy is already built into the tax code.