A few weeks ago the government agency I work for had a woman start and quit within a couple of days. Her stated reason: I will make nearly no money working here and will likely do better on welfare.
The job starts at 22 dollars per hour so at first I was thinking that she was out of her mind. She had 2 kids and we have to pay more than 100 per month for parking. So I did the math.
After paying for insurance and all of the other check deductions then daycare costs she would have had less than 200 dollars every 2 weeks left.
Considering she was still in school she could get daycare for free and could get Medicaid and food stamps, she actually would be doing better financially on welfare than making 22 per hour.
My mind was blown.