[terwey]

A lot of people confuse welfare with unemployment, I assume you mean that welfare isn't contribution based which is correct.

In some countries, e.g. NL/DE, unemployment however is contribution based and you always pay for it (it's tacked on next to your normal taxed), which when needed is limited to 2 years based on 60% of your last net income. The idea is that you should still be able to afford your current way of living without too many compromises when you got laid off and haven't found a new job yet.

In Germany for example welfare isn't great, it's around €400/mo though the state pays your rent directly.

[pietrovismara]

That's correct, I definitely mixed up things.