There was a two-week waiting period with benefits running for but 10 weeks and with a $5 minimum and a $10 maximum. Requirements called for a 2-year State residence and 40 weeks of employment to qualify.
Now, people are sitting on their butts for almost 99 weeks before they even start looking for work. Most states require that you show "some effort" that you are looking for work, but the fact remains that employers and tax payers are giving a lot of people almost a two year paid vacation.
We should adopt the German model of Workfare. If you are receiving either welfare or unemployment benefits and can fog a mirror, you show up every day to clean the toilets in public buildings, sweep the streets, etc. They make the jobs bad enough that people WANT to really find a job, which is often not the case here. Personally, I'd adopt this system and max the benefits out at 12 weeks.
No, no. We import illegal people for those jobs. /sarc