Bijstandsmoeders
YellowTimes.org - 08.11.2002 17:40
In Dutch, the phrase "welfare mothers" ("bijstandsmoeders") cannot be used negatively. It is purely a description of a woman with at least one child who does not have an income, for whatever reason.
"Welfare mothers"
Printed on Friday, November 08, 2002 @ 07:30:05 EST
By Hans van Gink
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (Netherlands)
(YellowTimes.org) – In Dutch, the phrase "welfare mothers" ("bijstandsmoeders") cannot be used negatively. It is purely a description of a woman with at least one child who does not have an income, for whatever reason. There are also welfare fathers, welfare families, and just plain people on welfare.
I'm of a late 1960s vintage so I grew up in the 1980s. The world was full of conservative governments. There was a cowboy in the White House and a world economy in the toilet. Construction work had gone down the drain as well, and my father had been laid off. Halfway through his forties, with a wife and three teenage children, he did not find work again until almost entering his fifties. I guess that's when I became a proud socialist and have remained so to this day.
Using the official definition of "poor," I guess my family was poor growing up. "Poor" is when your income is below 60 percent of the average of the group you're measuring. So we were poor for being Dutch. I know that won't draw a single tear south of the Sahara, but poor we were. I knew we didn't have as much to spend as other people, and most of the kids I knew received a much bigger allowance; despite all this, I never felt poor.
For the first period of his unemployment, my father received unemployment benefits. Everyone in the Netherlands who has gross income pays unemployment benefit premiums for the currently unemployed. When my father became unemployed it was his time to collect. As time went on, he received extended unemployment benefits (which are lower), and even later he was put on welfare. We became a welfare family.
Welfare is the bottom line in the Netherlands. Anyone who resides in the Netherlands legally and has no (or not enough) income has the right to welfare benefits. You don't even need a fixed residence or a bank account. Registered homeless can go by the welfare office and collect their daily money in cash. Sounds like living off the government's teat, doesn't it?
In the Netherlands, most of us see it differently. Here we go from the assumption that a rich country should take care of the less fortunate. Very few people on welfare are leeches. While you won't die on welfare, it's not much to live on. Why would anyone want to choose that?
What "generous welfare benefits" (according to the CIA World Factbook's description of the Netherlands) does the Netherlands extend to those leeches, those predators on society? First off, these predators are often women with young children whose husbands have left them, or men and women who have been laid off in bad economic times. Let's take a look at the generosity bestowed upon them.
Welfare benefits in the Netherlands are related to the legal minimum wage. For someone living alone, the benefits are 50 percent of the minimum wage. Under special circumstances this can go up to 20 percent to 70 percent of the minimum wage. For a single parent, the base benefits are 70 percent, with the same extra 20 percent under special circumstances. Couples with or without children get the full 100 percent of the legal minimum wage.
What does this translate to in numbers? As of 1 July 2002, the legal minimum wage in the Netherlands is €1,114.19 per month for people between 21 and 64 years of age. With a straight exchange rate, this comes to around $1,060 per month. This means that the base benefits for a single mother would be around $742 per month. Easy money. For that homeless person without a bank account this amounts to a whopping $17.42 per day. And it'll be $52.26 on a Friday in order to include the weekend. What a feast!
And did I mention that these amounts are before taxes? You see, even on welfare people pay taxes. Not much though, around 8 percent for singles and probably 10 to 15 percent for couples or people with children.
Life in the Netherlands is a lot less expensive than it is in the United States, for example. The average cost of living is much lower, and then we have other socialist ideas. When I said that we take care of the less fortunate I wasn't talking of money alone.
We have general health insurance. You pay a percentage of your income (included in the taxes I mentioned earlier), and you're insured. If you need a new kidney, and we have one to spare, we'll fix you up. For free.
There are rent subsidies. If you need a home but can't afford to pay the rent, a suitable house will be found and a portion of the rent will be paid for you. In the most extreme cases the house will even be furnished. If you remain needy for a prolonged period you can apply for basic household appliances every few years. Child benefits apply too.
People on welfare are exempt from many local taxes; for example, property taxes and dog taxes. Many cities have social activity programs for the lowest incomes as well. The city swimming pool in my neighborhood allows people with low incomes to use that swimming pool for free. Depending on the city, library fees, museum entrance, public transport, and a lot of other communal services can be free or reduced in price.
Does it sound like the promised land? Just quit working and you'll get money and a lot of things for free. But it's not that simple.
People on welfare are perhaps the most closely (financially) monitored people in the Netherlands. Because they are living on community money, the community watches to see if they are entitled to it. Fair enough. But sometimes the monitoring touches more than just the financial situation.
Welfare benefits are linked to efforts in finding work. This is not unreasonable; single mothers with young children and people nearing pension age are exempt. But everyone else is not. The recipient of welfare does not get to choose their new job; it is chosen for them. If they decline to accept a "suitable" job, maybe because their field of experience is totally different and because becoming a bricklayer would destroy their back within a year, they are sanctioned. In the eighties this meant having to forgo 10 percent of your generous benefits for thirteen weeks.
A single person, or single parent, on welfare cannot have a normal relationship. Period.
The monitoring of the financial situation includes a check of outside financial support. Being taken out to dinner means someone else pays for part of your meals. Spending a night at a friend's house, or having someone stay at yours, means shared (reduced) living costs. The welfare office will actually want to know how many times a month you are treated to dinner, how many times you spend the night together (once in a week is the legal maximum), and who pays for the birth control, if any. Occasional gifts? Your son got sneakers for his birthday? Who paid for the day at the beach?
These checks have been created because people abused the system. But, as always, the ones affected the most are the ones that depend on it.
Getting $742 a month (before taxes) for yourself and your children and not being able to have a personal life? Yes, I can see why someone would choose to live like that.
Fortunately, the discussion in the Netherlands is not whether or not welfare benefits should exist, but how high they should be and to what degree people should be checked, along with if and when they should be forced to accept a job.
Fortunately, in the Dutch language "welfare mother" is descriptive and not negative.
[Hans van Gink is Dutch, and not Belgian, by a margin of four miles. He does not wear clogs, does not smoke pot, nor does he grow tulips. He does like cheese a lot, rides a bicycle, and knows stuff about windmills. He does not mind paying taxes.]
Hans van Gink encourages your comments:  hvgink@email.com
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