ABSTRACT
Lone mothers, who have been on Public Assistance for a longer time, show a slightly better knowledge about the social security system than the short-term claimants. It is not because of their experiences in the social security system but their social contacts with other people. The chapter examines the rational choice theory which claims that lone mothers use information available to them from various sources in order to reach a decision on whether they should obtain full-time job or whether they are better off on social security benefits. It looks at the various sources of income and the general economic circumstances of the lone mothers in author sample. The chapter examines the controversial issue of whether lone mothers stay on benefit because they have lost the desire to work or because the ways in which the social security system operates entraps them and makes it very difficult for them to return to full-time work.
