welfare trap

kannustinloukku puhekieltä A situation where the welfare system discourages people who receive government public assistance payments from entering low-paid work because such work does not produce a significant income increase.
1982 Aug. 23, Robert Pear, "http://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/23/us/issue-debate-getting-tougher-on-work-rules-for-food-stamps.html Getting tougher on work rules for food stamps," New York Times (retrieved 9 Nov 2015):

Mr. Hayakawa said there was "a class of able-bodied persons who would rather collect public assistance than take jobs". . . . Cutting off food stamp benefits to these people, he said, would remove a disincentive to work, "close off one of the doors into the welfare trap."