Sociology: Case Study Analysis of Welfare and Unemployment Benefits

This sociology assignment analyzes the Australian unemployment benefit scheme, focusing on a case study of a 26-year-old male named David who is unemployed and relies on government benefits. The assignment identifies relevant welfare systems, including the unemployment benefit scheme and Australia's social security framework, and explores ethical concerns related to David's behavior and misuse of the system. It recommends resources and support for the targeted group, referencing research on unemployment benefit fraud and the importance of unemployment insurance. The assignment evaluates the services suitable for the scenario, highlighting the potential for unemployment insurance fraud and the need for stricter regulations and initiatives. It concludes with recommendations for encouraging David to seek employment and for the government to provide support to those genuinely in need, emphasizing the importance of community service involvement and addressing the issue of long-term dependency on unemployment benefits.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Introduction
The primary purpose of the unemployment benefit scheme of Australia is to financially
support the people of the working age who have been unemployed. This scheme has been
designed to be less generous than pensions as well as temporary schemes (Morris and Wilson,
2014). The government of Australia furthermore funds a wide range of the services for assisting
the unemployed for finding works. The rationale for the government intervention of Australia
includes the main or the primary purpose of the income support towards the unemployed for the
provision of the adequate and minimum standard of the living towards people who have been
temporarily out of the work as well as unable for supporting themselves through their personal
savings or any other means. The percentage or the rate of the benefits of the unemployment
attempts for balancing the adequate support for the unemployed people of the nation by the
incentives which will enhance as well as motivate them to seek work as well as the cost to the
commonwealth. The unemployment benefits are furthermore designed for ensuring that people
includes adequate level of resources for searching as well as obtaining the employment.
This case study highlights the scenario of David, the 26 years old male who tends to
unemployed off and on for the last few years. David enjoys his lifestyle being unemployed due
to the relaxation and the opportunity he gets for mastering his time as well as the freedom he gets
for doing certain things as per his choice. His attitude towards employment as well as the
tendency of being seeking contractual jobs are the alarming factors inducing him towards dealing
with under the table and undeclared cash and drugs. His dependency over the unemployment
benefit scheme of the government of the country has been one of the negative factor that needs to
addressed. This assignment highlights the recommendation from the perspective of the

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community service worker for increasing the participation of Dave in work as well as to reduce
his reliance over the unemployment benefits of the country.
Welfare system of the case study
The welfare system of this case study of the discussion reviews the progress over the
welfare system in the country, taking in account of the evidences from the international
experiences as well as development of policy recommendations for the unemployed population
of the country. The government of the country has made some of the major, strong and
remarkable progress over the last few years.
Source - Sachweh (2018)
The targeted group for this assignment is the seasonally unemployed individuals in the
country who prefer to go for contractual employment and enjoy their life by depending over the

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unemployment benefit scheme during no job. The welfare system that is suitable for the current
scenario is the unemployment benefit scheme and the Australia’s social; security framework.
This policy, legislative and the administrative framework includes the social security
administration act of 1999, social international agreement act 1999 (Long and Polito, 2015).
These welfare system are mostly suitable which inclusive of the social security law is being
administered by the department of the human services.
However, as per the stated issues of David, there lies some of the major ethical concern
regarding his attitude and behaviour towards employment and living. As per the case study
provided, David has been getting overly dependent over the Unemployment benefit scheme,
moreover when he has the ability to get employed. This case study portrays the ethical
challenges or concern regarding the intentional misuse of the unemployment benefit scheme by
David due to his laziness and tendency towards ideal lifestyle.
Resources to support
This section of the resource study will outline the recommended set of resources as well
as support for the targeted group of people. This will furthermore demonstrate the research
together with the evaluation of the available range of networks.
Hessing et al., (1993) in their peer reviewed research article explored the relation among diverse
range of economic and psychological variables as well as the unemployment benefit fraud. The
study highlighted over the extensive media coverage regarding social security fraud and the
issues which has been completed neglected. The study sheds light over two groups that received
unemployment benefits. The study obtained social norms, interview measures of social controls

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and the perceived risks of punishments. The results of the study summarized univariate as well as
regression analysis which revealed that people who actually frauds and misuses the
unemployment benefit scheme were less educated and more alienated as well as inclined for
taking risks for doing fraud activities.
According to International Labour Organization, the recent economic crisis of the globe
served as the stark reminder regarding the importance of the unemployment insurance. Just like
David, in the above stated case study, more than 86 percent of the population of the country does
not have a proper job and drops out of the labour market , only to find themselves without any of
the regular income from one day to another. According to the research studies, with a higher
level of the economic development, many of the middle income countries realized the need for
the introduction of the system of the unemployment protection which will help in the facilitation
of the structural transitions of economics. According to Carvalho (2015) unemployment benefits
made it easier for the unemployed worker to look for a job. The unemployment benefit scheme
and the welfare framework will be helpful for David to look for a better job or employment
opportunity which might in term change his motive of laziness and idleness.
As stated by Geiger (2018) while the entire global economy that has been improving and
more of the company hiring, individuals are finally getting their opportunities of employment.
The government of the country however places generous unemployment schemes and federal
programs for extending the jobless benefits to the unemployed individuals. However, there have
been a growing anecdotal evidences regarding the fact that most of the people who are eligible
and have the capability to get employed are currently choosing to reside over the dole rather than
the works. In consideration to the case study of David, it can be stated with the resources
gathered from research studies by Dionne (2013), that government checks have been one of the

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major lifeline for majority of the people who work in case they find a job. However, in
consideration to the case study approach of David, the current system develops perverse
incentives as well as make it very hard for lazy individuals like David to cut off their idleness
while helping the individual who are at genuine need.
Fuller, Ravikumar and Zhang (2015) in their research studies instigated that individuals who
have been availing unemployment insurance knows that payment of the jobs are less than the
available governmental checks. There furthermore is a risk towards getting a new job and the
risk towards sustaining the job. So, while it might get unethical for feign the hunt of a job while
residing over the dole of the governmental unemployment benefit scheme, it might seem to be a
rational option. Most of the unemployment benefit insurance fraud occur when individual
knowingly and intentionally makes interpretation and false statements for obtaining or gathering
unemployment benefits (Skrable, 1997). As per the given case study of David, he has been idle
and tends to get employed towards temporary jobs and illicit practices of under the table cash
and drug dealing. This is an act of unemployment insurance fraud since David hides his
capability of employment as well as his temporary employment status. In accordance to the legal
status, David have committed unemployment insurance fraud and she might be facing both
criminal and civil penalties.
According to Freud (2007), there lies a strong evidence regarding the reluctance towards the
engagement among individuals in the country in the labour market. The government of the
country has tackled the inheritance of the long term dependency over the unemployment benefits
and have estimated more than 95 percent of people among the population receiving
unemployment benefits from the government have been collecting “inactive” benefits. It is thus
important for the government of the country to target its welfare strategy for tackling all the

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inactive and idle groups in which David belongs. The community services and the non profit
organization should also initiate in involving the economically inactive workforce of the country
to move into work.
Service evaluation
The unemployment insurance fraud is considered to occur if an individual intentionally
makes certain false statements or misrepresents certain information regarding the requirement of
unemployment insurance payments. If there have been any kind of lies or any misrepresentations
would lead to receiving various unemployment insurance payments during the time such an
individual is ineligible to get such payments. There have been certain instances where after
getting the payment benefits individuals go to look for a job and if they do it is considered to be
their duty to report such employment. If the individual fails to do so and receives the payments
then such person is said to have committed unemployment insurance fraud (Fuller, Ravikumar &
Zhang, 2015).
In any criminal case, the defenses would depend on the circumstances and such will
differ based on those situations. If there, has been any lack of criminal intention or if there has
been a lack of evidence. There are several penalties available for such crime. If any individual
has been convicted of the fraud then the state may take money from that individual through
garnishing the wages (Charles, 2015). The individual might also face incarceration for the
misdemeanor depending on the situations or the circumstances. In addition to such, the
individual is also considered to be on probation where the freedom of the individual would be
limited. Lastly, the person or the individual might be fined which would be up to 10,000 dollars
depending from state to state (Auray, Fuller & Lkhagvasuren, 2019).

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In this present scenario, Dave is considered to be unemployed and he also searches for
casual jobs. At present, Dave is not looking for any job and his ideal lifestyle would be to work
during the winter and enjoy the unemployment benefits during the summer. It can be understood
that he is trying to benefit from the unemployment benefits which are being provided by the
government but has not committed any unemployment fraud as of yet. As a community services
worker I can try encouraging Dave to look for jobs and other kind of employment opportunities.
He should not be misusing the benefits given to him by the government. The government along
with the law making body should bring more stricter laws and regulations which would help in
penalizing and indicting any individual for committing the offences. The government should also
come up with schemes and initiatives which would provide the individuals who are in dire need
of opportunities but due to lack of such is facing unemployment instead of providing these
benefits to the individuals who are capable of working and finding employment.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded, that Dave has the capability of looking for jobs so he
needs to get the opportunity to find employment opportunities and he should not be relying on
the benefits provided by the government. The government on the other hand needs to come up
with initiatives which would help the individuals who are in dire need of it. Therefore, these
initiatives should benefit the individuals and not make them incapable of finding jobs.

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Reference
Freud, D. (2007). Reducing dependency, increasing opportunity: options for the future of
welfare to work. London: DWP.
Skrable, B. (1997). Fraud, Abuse, and Errors in the Unemployment Insurance System: Exent,
Measurement, and Correction.
Fuller, D. L., Ravikumar, B., & Zhang, Y. (2015). Unemployment insurance fraud and optimal
monitoring. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 7(2), 249-90.
Geiger, B. B. (2018). Benefit ‘myths’? The accuracy and inaccuracy of public beliefs about the
benefits system. Social Policy & Administration, 52(5), 998-1018.
Hessing, D. J., Elffers, H., Robben, H. S. J., & Webley, P. (1993). Needy or Greedy? The Social
Psychology of Individuals Who Fraudulently Claim Unemployment Benefits 1. Journal
of Applied Social Psychology, 23(3), 226-243.
Sachweh, P. (2018). Conditional Solidarity: Social Class, Experiences of the Economic Crisis,
and Welfare Attitudes in Europe. Social Indicators Research, 139(1), 47-76.
Morris, A., & Wilson, S. (2014). Struggling on the Newstart unemployment benefit in Australia:
The experience of a neoliberal form of employment assistance. The Economic and
Labour Relations Review, 25(2), 202-221.
Long, I. W., & Polito, V. (2015). Cash-in-hand, benefit fraud and unemployment insurance (No.
E2015/4). Cardiff Economics Working Papers.
Carvalho, P. (2015). Youth unemployment in Australia. Policy: A Journal of Public Policy and
Ideas, 31(4), 36.

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Dionne, G. (2013). The empirical measure of information problems with emphasis on insurance
fraud and dynamic data. In Handbook of insurance (pp. 423-448). Springer, New York,
NY.
Auray, S., Fuller, D. L., & Lkhagvasuren, D. (2019). Unemployment insurance take-up rates in
an equilibrium search model. European Economic Review, 112, 1-31.
Fuller, D. L., Ravikumar, B., & Zhang, Y. (2015). Unemployment insurance fraud and optimal
monitoring. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 7(2), 249-90.
Satti Charles, B. (2015). Combating unemployment insurance fraud with big data analytics.