Yep. I know someone who is choosing to stay unemployed and live off the government. The exact quote was, ‘not worth looking for a job when I’m getting unemployment.’
Unemployment benefits also hurt employers, and not just through forced contributions.
When many people are getting relatively generous and extended unemployment benefits, the government essentially becomes the employer’s biggest, most powerful, and most unfair COMPETITOR.
A small business that is struggling right now may nevertheless want to hire, so long as it can do so at a particular wage. Competing small businesses also must keep wages down. But along comes the government sending checks to the people the business would otherwise like to hire. Except the business can only attract workers if it can pay more than the government “pays” in unemployment. Or substantially more to make it worthwhile to take the job.
If a person is receiving, in effect, $10 an hour from the government to do nothing and a small business can offer $12 an hour for doing hard work . . . duh.