operon said:
Thats it a week dole is too much in the republic, how do they expect to get bums out to work when they get that much in dole, plus that 60 pounds doesn't inlcude the things like lower council tax etc etc someone else can fill in the details for me
The basic dole is only the start here too...there's rent allowance, and all kinds of other allowances depending on your situation. Rent allowance in particular can be very generous (it's a proportion of your rent, not a fixed amount...meaning if you're renting somewhere expensive, you can get a lot of value...)
I think it's a legacy of the boom years, when I guess it was 'proven' that even with a very generous social welfare system, people did prefer to work if they could work. That was the case, when there were jobs-a-plenty, few people were actually 'bums' and stayed on benefit regardless.
And of course...it was easy to afford this generosity, when unemployment was so low and tax receipts so high.
Interestingly, though, there's been little adjustment to social welfare since the shit hit the fan. Only a very minor reduction (from 20x to 196 per week), and some rule changes for people under 20 (their max is 100 a week or something like that). I expect if finances don't recover that more will have to be done though...
I'll have to remember the UK rate, though, next time I hear someone complain about the dole here.