Introduction
Wearing the colors of the so-called Yellow Revolution, immigrants in Bologna, Italy, strike on March 1, 2010, for better treatment. Cuts in welfare benefits could target Europe's immigrants, who already are seen as not fully sharing in Europe's vaunted upward mobility. (Iguana Press/Getty Images/Roberto Serra)
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The Euro debt crisis and calls for fiscal austerity are putting a harsh new light on Europe's gold-plated welfare and pension programs. According to some economists, Europeans pay for their generous welfare programs — such as national health insurance and universal preschool — with more sluggish economies and higher unemployment than in the United States, which has among the industrialized world's least generous welfare safety nets. But in recent years, Scandinavian countries, the most generous with subsidized child care and paid parental leave, have grown at least as fast as the free-market United States. And, contrary to popular opinion, workers there have a better chance than Americans of climbing further up the economic ladder than their parents. Now Greece, Spain, France and Portugal have all proposed welfare austerity measures — mainly delaying early retirement ages and freezing pensions — not cutting core programs like free child care or unemployment safety nets. Cutbacks in pensions have already spurred angry street protests, but most experts agree Europe has little choice as it faces a demographic time bomb of aging societies supported by a diminishing number of workers.
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Aug. 2010 |
Social Welfare in Europe |
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Aug. 03, 2001 |
Welfare Reform |
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Dec. 06, 1996 |
Welfare, Work and the States |
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Sep. 16, 1994 |
Welfare Experiments |
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Apr. 10, 1992 |
Welfare Reform |
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Oct. 10, 1986 |
Working on Welfare |
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Mar. 09, 1984 |
Social Welfare Under Reagan |
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Apr. 17, 1981 |
European Welfare States Under Attack |
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Dec. 09, 1977 |
Welfare in America and Europe |
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Nov. 21, 1975 |
Future of Welfare |
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Dec. 20, 1967 |
Welfare Reform |
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Jun. 08, 1966 |
Guaranteed Income Plan |
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Oct. 04, 1961 |
Public Welfare Policy |
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Mar. 09, 1954 |
Worker Welfare Funds |
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Jul. 20, 1950 |
Welfare State |
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May 07, 1947 |
Union Welfare Funds |
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Jan. 10, 1940 |
Expansion of the Food-Stamp Plan |
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