Report states benefits wreck the work ethic.

right up there with bear taking a dump in woods and the Pope being a catholic.

The stigma that once went with claiming benefits rather than working for a living has been lost, a study has claimed.

The work ethic that inspired successive generations has ebbed away in the face of the welfare state.

Over the past decades each generation has seen more and more people milking the benefit system, which has sapped their will to work, the research from the Centre for Economic Performance said.

The findings come at a time when both major parties have committed themselves to cutting numbers who live on incapacity benefit.

There are 2.6million adults who claim the handout meant for the sick and incapable, with around 20 per cent thought to be fully able - but unwilling - to work.

The report said: 'It has long been recognised that generous unemployment benefits create moral hazard - workers are partly protected against the consequences of being unemployed, so they are less likely to search for jobs with the same intensity.'

I would take issue with part of this, it is not benefits as such, something that thanks to Gordon's mismanagement of the economy millions now need to claim. It is more to do with all the extra's, the sicknote culture that has fit people signed off as sick on dubious reasons when they are able to work.

Pay someone the same or more than they are making in work and a lot of people will fake an illness to stay at home.

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