For some, jobless benefits trump a job

[Anti Federalist]

For some, jobless benefits trump a job

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39693099/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

You know the economy has become truly screwy when it pays more to collect jobless benefits than to get an actual job.

The economy is so weak and jobs are so scarce that some people are finding that it isn’t worth it to work. These workers say that’s because the only jobs available are part-time or low-wage gigs that would not only be a big step down from their previous careers but also would not even pay enough to cover their expenses.

<snip>

About 8 million people are now collecting some form of unemployment aid, but how much they take home varies widely depending on what state they live in and how much they made previously. In Massachusetts, for example, the maximum benefit is $943 per week, including an allowance for dependents, while in Mississippi it is just $235 a week.

<snip>

After Robert Nasuti was laid off as a technology consultant in March 2009, he spent more than a year looking for work in his field. Although the Myerstown, Pa., resident, was making ends meet on his unemployment benefits, he hated not working.

“The wear and tear of being at home, having nothing to do every day, nowhere to go, that’s what really started to wear on me,” he said. “I like to work.”

That’s how he ended up taking a low-paying temporary job as a bill collector for student loans.

.“I thought it would be the responsible thing to do,” he said.

He quit after working just one week. He said he was asked to call grandparents who had co-signed student loans and threaten to withhold Social Security payments if they didn’t pay up, he said.

Quitting left him ineligible for unemployment pay. These days, the 26-year-old is working 20 hours a week, for $8 an hour, at a drugstore. He’s living rent-free at his dad’s house but still barely scrapes by.

He now wishes he’d stayed on unemployment and had never taken the bill collector job.

“I regret it every day. It was like a chance that I took, and I thought it was a good route to take, and it just blew up in my face completely,” he said.

[TheBlackPeterSchiff]

What's this? People not working because they are getting unemployment benefits?!!? No way. Not true!! No one would do that!! Poor folks gotta feed the kids. What about the kids!!!?!?!

[Brian4Liberty]

Welfare and unemployment benefits. Anti-motivational, and they delay a recovery.

[Monarchist]

It really is sad. The irony most people don't get is that it's the taxes, debt, etc. which go toward unemployment benefits which drives down good wages and hours.

[acptulsa]

Another thing that isn't 'got' is the idiotic way the systems are often administered. They're not content to be anti-initiative in the bland, general way, they have to be anti-initiative in myriad little and even more self-defeating ways. Private enterprise insurance would never be so silly.

For example, there are states where you don't dare further your education to become more employable, as you'll be cut off from what you paid into for all those decades. Also, you might be afraid to take a temporary Christmastime job because it won't last six months, and if it doesn't it won't requalify you for benefits when it's over.

Idiocracy. One size fits none.

[Rael]

Only a sucker would take a job when he can get paid just as much to sit on his ass.

[BFranklin]

I'm on unemployment and I've gone on so many interviews for jobs that are only part time or that pay crap. Of course I'm not going to take it. I want to be off unemployment by the end of the year though. I just need a full time job that pays over $10 so I can finish school.

[ItsTime]

I heard it first hand yesterday. A laborer who was unemployed for a few months said "It was easier not working" and then went on to say all the great benefits she was getting.

[BFranklin]

The government prints money out of thin air anyway.

[MelissaWV]

I'm on unemployment and I've gone on so many interviews for jobs that are only part time or that pay crap. Of course I'm not going to take it. I want to be off unemployment by the end of the year though. I just need a full time job that pays over $10 so I can finish school.

Without starting a big argument, there are other ways to get around being on unemployment. Two of those part time jobs might cover you, or you might consider postponing school until you can pay for it, or you might interview for the crap-paying job and try to negotiate your pay upwards if you feel you're worth more. If your skillset is not worth $10/hour in your area, then you're going to have a tough time no matter how charming or tenacious you are.

* * *

As for the OP, the timing is great. I was reading a facepalm-worthy article that points out many states are now making people who make double or more of the poverty line income eligible for foodstamps. While this is a move that might make sense (some states do have really high cost of living), what they are also doing is ignoring assets. This means the fact you have a few thousand dollars in savings, land, a 401k, or equity does not enter into the equation.


States that have relaxed food stamp eligibility did so by moving to a system where applicants could qualify based on their income, and their other assets such as real estate, vehicles and savings accounts could be ignored.

Basing food stamps on income alone allows the newly unemployed and the elderly to seek government food aid without having to first sell their property or exhaust every dollar they've earned, said Sue McGinn, director of the food stamp program in Colorado, which will expand eligibility beginning in March.

"They won't have to wipe out their savings to apply for benefits," McGinn said.

Yeah... you don't have to exhaust your own money to buy food; buy it on everyone else's dime! If they protest, we'll call them mean bastards.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101022/ap_on_bi_ge/us_food_stamps

[Brian4Liberty]

As for the OP, the timing is great. I was reading a facepalm-worthy article that points out many states are now making people who make double or more of the poverty line income eligible for foodstamps. While this is a move that might make sense (some states do have really high cost of living), what they are also doing is ignoring assets. This means the fact you have a few thousand dollars in savings, land, a 401k, or equity does not enter into the equation.


That thought also occurred to me when first reading this thread. Government assistance was originally justified as help for the indigent. Now it goes to people living in 10 year old houses, driving 2 year old vehicles and sending the kids to private schools in designer clothes carrying Droids.

[SWATH]

My FIL is retired but collects unemployment. He says he is looking for a job so he made up a crappy resume and applies at different places knowing he wont and hoping he doesn't get an interview. If he does he just deliberately botches it so he can continue to not work and collect checks. He justifies it by saying everyone he knows is doing the same thing.

[VBRonPaulFan]

I read an article a while back that talked about how a lot of employers won't hire people on unemployment just because it generally shows a lack of initiative on that person's part. With such an ample market of possible hires to choose from, they're going to be much more inclined to hire a guy who is wholly overqualified for a part-time $7/hr job at a fast food place, but is working it anyways until they find something better; rather than hire some college degree holding person who's been on unemployment for a year. Who looks like the better choice of two roughly equal people in that case? The guy sitting on his ass getting unemployment, or the guy with a shitty job but looking for something better?

The article also stated how furious a bunch of democrats were when they found out that employers were doing this lol.

[acptulsa]

That thought also occurred to me when first reading this thread. Government assistance was originally justified as help for the indigent. Now it goes to people living in 10 year old houses, driving 2 year old vehicles and sending the kids to private schools in designer clothes carrying Droids.

Oh, they're the whole point these days.

Remember who owns the government. Do they care about whomever is really hurting? Or do they want to ensure that those with multiple lines of credit don't have a chance to declare bankruptcy?

I know how Bank of America and Chase feel. And I know about how much they contribute to campaigns, too.

[LibForestPaul]

Side issue, How is it possible for Massachusetts to have $900+ a week unemployment benefits? Almost double the national average.

[Theocrat]

Truly sad. I'd rather work than make more money collecting unemployment "benefits." We have lost the creation mandate of work: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." [Genesis 3:19]

The Scriptures also say,

Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you.. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. [2 Thessalonians 3:8, 10]

I'm sure liberals will blame the marketplace for the lesser wages in private jobs, instead of taxes, increased spending, unrestrained entitlements, etc.

[denison]

Side issue, How is it possible for Massachusetts to have $900+ a week unemployment benefits? Almost double the national average.

cost of living?