I've had thoughts that there should something along these lines to encourage welfare recipients to work as seasonal fruit/produce pickers, to offset declining illegal immigrant numbers.  They get a free round trip bus/train ticket to where ever, and if they work for a given period (the whole picking season) in addition to their wages, they get part or all of their welfare benefits.  

We'd be paying them bennies anyway if they sat at home, so I'm not sure it's a loss to taxpayers.  Could possibly allow growers to pay at a reduced wage to encourage participation.  Unfortunately, I can just hear Al Sharpton if a program sent inner city blacks to work on rural farms.  The plantation/slave comparisons would be endless.  Never mind that it might help them, or not be limited to them; the outrage would be overwhelming.