Do you think people are taking advantage of unemployment?

I think unemployment is a good idea some hard working people who lost their jobs do need help.
But I see most people taking advantage of it knowing they can get out there and look for a job.
They are getting use to getting paid without work I say leave it to the ones who really need it!

I don’t think people are taking advantage of it. After all, they had to contribute to it before they could use it.

Do you have a peer-reviewed study to prove this claim?

or

Is your only evidence, “'Cause I sez so.”?

If I were to muster some kind of guess I would have to say probably 20% people take advantage of it in some kind of way.

In Canada anyways it’s much easier to take advantage as you don’t have to prove you are out looking for and applying for jobs. Simply have to say that you are.

Absolutely it gets taken advantage of. I’ve seen people I know do it.

Nothing to stop you from getting paid off the books and collecting unemployment. It’s certainly the minority but people absolutely take advantage of it.

Moderator Hat: OFF

Yeah having re-invented myself three times over the mere sixty years that I’ve been on this fcking planet, and currently being unemployed, I have to say that having to suck it up and apply to some poor-English speaking Vietnamese woman, with a major attitude, who got hired by the State of California because she is a minority, is a great way to make your way through life…

When I am working I knock down $39.47 an hour… about $1,600 a week… UI (unemployment insurance) “gives” me $450… for 26 weeks, with one 13 week extension. That’s it. Have you ever had to skip a haircut, or forgo groceries in order to “save up” to make a mortgage payment?

But I see most people taking advantage of it knowing they can get out there and look for a job. They are getting use to getting paid without work I say leave it to the ones who really need it!

“Unemployment” isn’t free … it is a form of insurance that is paid for by payroll contributions that YOU mandatorily make, and that your employer mandatorily contributes to . And just who the hell do you think really needs it? And what should one be doing while unemployed, other that looking for a new job! In case you haven’t noticed the economy in the United States is in the fkin’ toilet, and will be for the foreseeable future. If you’re twenty-something, good for you, it’s a bitch right now but you’re young enough to live through it and recoup, but if you’re on the far side of fifty… good fkin’ luck. Consider yourself lucky that YOU have a job.

Labor stats “show” that 1 in 5 (20%) of Americans are currently unemployed … but what it doesn’t show is that once an individual stops looking for a job (how much rejection can you take) they are not considered “unemployed” and thus not counted. I’d put the percentage at more like 30-35% … nearly 1 in 3.

This is a really touchy subject with me right now so I’d best recuse myself from making any other comments…

Moderator Hat: ON

Unemployment in the United States is currently at 9.2%, I think 30-35% is a tad high.

A lot of people do take advantage of it, but I would say most do not and are trying their best to get off it.

I disagree with the 9% thing completely. Lew is right on at 30-35%. Amongst building trades it’s even higher. I heard a stat the other day that there are 900 guys on the bench waiting for call backs with the local plumbers union. (we don’t need to get into a union discussion here, just giving the number for reference)

And once you’ve stopped actively looking and collecting unemployment, your status is not counted, just like Lew said.

Lew, thank you for saying what I thought. I am currently a manager at a small grocery store (since I haven’t found another ID job yet) and based on the number of applications I see every week there are a lot of people looking for jobs right now. And most people would be surprised by the degrees and former salaries many applicants have.

If I were to count how many people I know that are currently unemployed or were in the last 5 years, I would have to say it is close to to the percentages that Lew stated. Oh and don’t get me started on underemployment.