[SMARTY]

I guess we could say America has a proletarian dictatorship ... IF we actually HAD employment at proper levels! :)

[KeyLargo]

I read this article today and the author has it right.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I worked at the unemployment office from about 1983 to 2000. This is not a new phenomenon.

[koanhead]

If a job doesn't net enough to attract applicants, the employer obviously isn't offering enough to fill it. That's Economics 101.

Of course, employers would rather bring in cheap illegals than respond to the demands of the marketplace.

[what's up]

Bump

[A_perfect_lady]

I had a friend who worked in ... I guess it would be medical IT. I mean, she was in computers of some sort and usually affiliated with a medical facility. Something to do with billing, I guess (she was like Chandler from FRIENDS, we had no idea what she did, we just knew she did it.)

Anyway, her job got downsized away in 2007 and she went on unemployment... and gradually her attitude toward working changed. And yes, she was a Democrat (she said she wasn't but she took their side on every issue) but she had worked for 20 years and if nothing else, had a very good work ethic. When she first went on unemployment, she was mortified, ashamed, would actually cry over it.

Then the weeks went on and she got used to getting "her check." It became sort of like a dividend payment to her. She interviewed for jobs, but started turning them down for reasons that never would have bothered her before. Eventually it came down to "I'm not giving up my check to drive 20 miles each way!" Man, she milked it to the end, practically. She finally got a job when she absolutely had to, but she didn't stay at it long. She went from one to another.... she had developed a spirit of dissatisfaction that she just didn't have before.