Australia's treasurer says that single mothers on welfare should be required to seek work when their children start going to school.
Peter Costello addressed a Sustaining Prosperity conference sponsored by The Australian and the Melbourne Institute. He said that one of the country's biggest problems is a labor shortage.
"A system that has no work requirement -- not even a part-time work requirement -- for a parent of school-age children is a very generous one and an inappropriate one in a country with possible labour shortages and the long-term ageing of the population," Costello said.
Costello's comments on single mothers came as the government prepared to test another welfare reform in three of its states. The Australian said that 1,000 recipients of disability pensions would appear before expert boards to determine if they can work.
Costello said that single mothers should not be penalized for failure to find jobs but could be required to get training or to perform community work in order to collect welfare benefits.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
