Welfare Systems for the Long-Term Unemployed in the Uk, Nigeria and the Us

A major objective of this paper is to compare the welfare systems in place to support the long-term unemployed in the UK, Nigeria and the US. A second and equally important objective is to build a hypothesis based on a critical evaluation of the welfare systems of these selected countries. The process of hypothesis building is inductive, following from a careful observation of both the experiences of the long-term unemployed and the welfare systems in place to support them in the three countries being compared. The hypothesis may be tested against data on the systems of welfare delivery and their impacts on the long-term unemployed in other developed and developing countries apart from the three considered in this paper. However, further testing of the hypothesis built in this paper is beyond the scope of this present exercise.

There about 190 independent countries in the world (Alex, 2012). Out of these, a small number, only three, have been selected for comparison in this paper. These three countries include the UK, the home country and which, in a sense, serves as ground for the whole study. The other two are Nigeria and the US. Making sense of the comparisons between the UK and Nigeria depends on identifying which of the similarities between the two countries best explains the effects of their welfare systems on the long-term unemployed members of their different populations as both countries are quite dissimilar economically. On the other hand, a correct interpretation of the comparison of the UK and the US would rely, instead, on identifying which of their differences may best explain their welfare systems since both countries are largely economically similar.