Sosyal Yardım Alan Bireylerin İstihdama Katılım Kararlarının Belirlenmesine Yönelik Bir İnceleme
Exploring the Employment Participation Decisions of Individuals Receiving Social Assistance

Summary/Abstract: The study, which aimed to explore how individuals benefiting from social assistance shape their decisions to participate in employment and how they experience this process, employed qualitative methods and a descriptive phenomenological design. The study group consisted of 10 individuals (7 women and 3 men) receiving inkind/cash assistance. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and analyzed using content analysis. Under the central theme of "Inability to Participate in Employment," two themes emerged: "Individual and Structural Circumstances in Employment Decisions" and "Economic Rationality in Employment Decisions". The first theme explored the categories "Disadvantage" and "Labor Market Problems." Participants stated that low education levels, care responsibilities, health problems, and gender roles limit participation in employment. They also stated that low wages in the labor market, informal employment, insecurity, and jobfinding difficulties negatively impact their employment decisions. The second theme explored the categories "Utilitarianism" and "Double Benefit." Participants emphasized that social assistance is seen as an alternative to employment, and that working in low-income, precarious jobs is not considered more attractive than the financial support it provides. It was observed that while disadvantage and financial hardship initially led to compulsion to social assistance, over time, individuals became dependent on it. This leads to the inability to participate in employment, which becomes both a consequence and a rational decision increasingly preferred over time.

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