According to “Poverty and Progress,” a report by the Manhattan Institute’s Stephen Eide, 90,000 new NYC jobs were created last year, but at the same time, the welfare rolls increased by 4%. This has never happened before in the city’s history. The reason for this was determined to be the de Blasio administration’s policy of loosening work requirements for welfare recipients. Previously, a 35-hour work week was required for the parents of small children, but now education can be used as a substitute. The Work Experience Program, an effort started by former mayor Rudy Giuliani that placed welfare recipients in low level civil service jobs, is also being phased out. In addition, the Human Resources Agency has been more lax in throwing people off welfare who have refused to keep appointments with employment counselors. If welfare applications are increasing while times are relatively good, what will happen when they are bad?