abstract: 'One of the core dilemmas of current welfare politics is the question of

  how to ensure social protection while providing incentives to seek

  employment at the same time. A way to address this dilemma is to base

  policies and policy models on the principle notion that `work must pay'';

  in other words, income from employment should be higher than the social

  support of the unemployed. However, how accurately do these approaches

  and models represent the reality of benefit recipients, particularly in

  the context of increased employment precariousness? In this article, we

  use the cases of two disadvantaged regions in Czech Republic in order to

  contrast the presumptions of `making work pay'' policies with the

  everyday experience of welfare recipients. As we show, their situations

  are strongly shaped by current changes in the labour market,

  particularly the precarious character of accessible employment and high

  levels of indebtedness. The modelling of financial employment incentives

  and the public policies based on these calculations often do not

  correspond with the reality of welfare recipients that are often cycling

  in and out of precarious forms of employment. However, the authors'' main

  claim is that the very idea of the `work must pay'' approach focuses on

  the wrong question. A truly functioning financial incentive would need

  to focus not solely on the difference in income between those who work

  and those who do not work, but rather should analyse what type of

  arrangements allow working households to rise permanently above the

  poverty line.'
affiliation: 'Trlifajova, L (Corresponding Author), Charles Univ Prague, Fac Social
  Sci, Dept Publ \& Social Policy, U Krize 8, Prague 15800 5, Czech Republic.

  Trlifajova, Lucie, Charles Univ Prague, Fac Social Sci, Dept Publ \& Social Policy,
  U Krize 8, Prague 15800 5, Czech Republic.

  Hurrle, Jakob, Charles Univ Prague, Fac Sci, Geog Inst, Prague, Czech Republic.'
author: Trlifajova, Lucie and Hurrle, Jakob
author-email: lucie.trlifajova@gmail.com
author_list:
- family: Trlifajova
  given: Lucie
- family: Hurrle
  given: Jakob
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1177/0958928718805870
eissn: 1461-7269
files: []
issn: 0958-9287
journal: JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY
keywords: 'Activation; Czech Republic; dualization; in-work poverty; labour market;

  making work pay; unemployment; welfare'
keywords-plus: 'POLITICAL-ECONOMY; SOCIAL-POLICY; WELFARE-STATE; UNEMPLOYMENT; REFORM;

  POVERTY'
language: English
month: JUL
number: '3'
number-of-cited-references: '75'
orcid-numbers: Trlifajova, Lucie/0000-0002-9640-037X
pages: 376-395
papis_id: 837cbb1d8debef6c378350d6d1db93f8
ref: Trlifajova2019workmust
researcherid-numbers: Trlifajova, Lucie/J-6590-2017
times-cited: '8'
title: 'Work must pay: Does it? Precarious employment and employment motivation for
  low-income households'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000470325500005
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '12'
volume: '29'
web-of-science-categories: Public Administration; Social Issues
year: '2019'