well, i had 137 welfare, with 200 sals, i raised my salaries the other day to 300 to XP with the new IF pay outs, and pop supplies, you know, try new things, some times they cost more than they are worth, but you'll never figure things out if you don't
right now my welfare is dropping, but thats because i'm replacing 77 corps in my country, my unemployment has drop 8-10 points, thats gonna kill my welfare for a while, but it'll come back, you know, its a long term game
and a last word about country welfare, check your supply quality under "business and trade," that can add allot to your country welfare, using your country trade strat, under the trade menu, you can improve your welfare by buying HQ good for your pop
if you even out your gov and corp salaries, the pop ends up paying for 95-98% of the costs, if not, then your country general fund will end up paying allot