The level of welfare benefits in the UK has reached a record low in comparison with wages, which have themselves gone down by 20% since before the financial crisis. Since they can't push their wages back up, they have to work a lot more than they did.

They work more so as to bring in the same income that they became accustomed to (if they were not poor) or need in order to survive (if they were poor).

I would love to see how the situation in the US compares to this.