DGS49
Diamond Member
Back in the days when I was working as a full-time security guard (while going to college), I was distressed (and jealous?) to realize that there were several members of my wife's extended family who were making more in unemployment comp than I was making working a full time job. (I use the term "working" in a very loose sense; security guards don't actually do any "work," per se). These guys were construction workers who, at the time, would normally be laid off every year from mid-November through the end of February.
I would occasionally have conversations with them about the process of signing up for unemployment. At the time, the Unemployment Office had the bizarre requirement that you actually be LOOKING FOR WORK while you were collecting these weekly checks. In fact, you had to sign a statement to that effect in order for your check to be processed.
But of course, these guys were not looking for anything but a nice nap in the afternoon. They were making good money when working, and there was no copulating way they were going to take a job at half or a third their customary rate, knowing that their employers were going to be calling them back in March. Or - more importantly - knowing that they were making more sitting on their asses at home than they could make at a temporary job, particularly when you factor in the cost of going to work every day.
Bottom line: The unemployment comp was a HUGE deterrent to these guys getting a job.
Fast forward 40 years.
Now we have a President and his fellow travelers in Congress whining about the possibility that the extended unemployment benefits (going out as long as 99 weeks) will be expiring, and it would simply be too cruel to let it expire.
And we still have the perverse situation that, depending on what state you live in, you can make more sitting on your ass drawing UEC than your neighbor makes stocking shelves at the local hardware store.
And some people honestly believe that UEC is not a dis-incentive to getting real and finding a [fucking] job.
UEC is not a "free" government benefit. Employers pay an unemployment insurance premium out of the earnings of every employee, and like all insurance, when the indemnified event takes place (you lose your job), you are entitled to the benefit that the insurance pays. Which is a maximum of six months of compensation at the state-defined rate - while you are looking for work if you please.
But when you get past that six months, you are ON WELFARE, and sucking at the teat's of your friends and neighbors.
There are millions of jobs available in this great land. The "Help Wanted" signs in my area are ubiquitous. But as long as the UEC weekly comp and the minimum wage are aligned as they are now, nobody who is drawing UEC is going to get an entry-level job. It would be financially stupid, eh?
Regardless of whether the ill-conceived initiative to raise the MW goes forward, the extension of UEC benefits is a stupid, wasteful, and generally bad idea.
I would occasionally have conversations with them about the process of signing up for unemployment. At the time, the Unemployment Office had the bizarre requirement that you actually be LOOKING FOR WORK while you were collecting these weekly checks. In fact, you had to sign a statement to that effect in order for your check to be processed.
But of course, these guys were not looking for anything but a nice nap in the afternoon. They were making good money when working, and there was no copulating way they were going to take a job at half or a third their customary rate, knowing that their employers were going to be calling them back in March. Or - more importantly - knowing that they were making more sitting on their asses at home than they could make at a temporary job, particularly when you factor in the cost of going to work every day.
Bottom line: The unemployment comp was a HUGE deterrent to these guys getting a job.
Fast forward 40 years.
Now we have a President and his fellow travelers in Congress whining about the possibility that the extended unemployment benefits (going out as long as 99 weeks) will be expiring, and it would simply be too cruel to let it expire.
And we still have the perverse situation that, depending on what state you live in, you can make more sitting on your ass drawing UEC than your neighbor makes stocking shelves at the local hardware store.
And some people honestly believe that UEC is not a dis-incentive to getting real and finding a [fucking] job.
UEC is not a "free" government benefit. Employers pay an unemployment insurance premium out of the earnings of every employee, and like all insurance, when the indemnified event takes place (you lose your job), you are entitled to the benefit that the insurance pays. Which is a maximum of six months of compensation at the state-defined rate - while you are looking for work if you please.
But when you get past that six months, you are ON WELFARE, and sucking at the teat's of your friends and neighbors.
There are millions of jobs available in this great land. The "Help Wanted" signs in my area are ubiquitous. But as long as the UEC weekly comp and the minimum wage are aligned as they are now, nobody who is drawing UEC is going to get an entry-level job. It would be financially stupid, eh?
Regardless of whether the ill-conceived initiative to raise the MW goes forward, the extension of UEC benefits is a stupid, wasteful, and generally bad idea.
