Posted on 08/31/2010 3:39:14 AM PDT by tobyhill
Does handing out unemployment benefits to out-of-work Americans discourage them from finding a job?
In an op-ed article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, Harvard economist Robert Barro argues that the current unemployment rate would be 6.8 percent rather than 9.5 percent if the Obama administration hadn’t extended unemployment-insurance eligibility to up to 99 weeks from the standard 26 weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifeinc.msnbc.msn.com ...
Its tough for someone who needs an income to pay his bills to accept a $400 a week job, if it means losing a $500 a week unemployment check, particularly if the unemployment isn’t going to run out for nearly 2 years.
Such a long period of free money has to be a deterrent for a lot of folks to actually move on this.
I was just thinking walking into the gym last night that if I hadn’t gotten a job last May after being laid off last February I’d STILL have 5 months of UE left and I have been working 15 months at my new job already.
I know it’s tough but a lot of the unemployed, and I know a few, are taking in extra money under the table.
I was in the same boat last year and had to take a job paying a little less but it’s with a stable company that I don’t have to worry about refiling unemployment papers.
How is this not blindingly obvious?
Paying people not to work results in people not working...
I would rephrase that to the following:
Does handing out unemployment benefits to out-of-work Americans discourage encourage them from to not finding a job?
My wife's nephew told us why should he find a job when his wife is working? Right now he collects unemployment, his wife is working, and he doesn't have to pay for a sitter or day care. They're bringing in two incomes and no child care costs. We could be mad at his laziness or his gaming the system, but why should we? It's the government that is fostering this mentality.
BTW-He was very happy that they added another two years to his unemployment.
Where is UI $500 a week? It is $300 here and that does not meet the bills. I have tapped savings while looking for a new job.
Why do you think we need to implement the five-point economic recovery plan as I described it here on FR:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2578337/posts?page=23#23
yes
I've often said that the best way to reduce unemployment is to require a person to be unemployed for 30 days before they can apply for benefits.
it isn’t’ discouraging, it’s enabling.
The thing I hear is like Hey I gotta get a job my unemployment runs out next month.
Give a man enough fish and he'll start to believe that he is owed fish for the rest of his life and that maybe you should throw in a car, big-screen TV.....
That said, while the unemployment rate might be lower if the benefits didn't keep perpetuating themselves, Obama and his destroyers have ensured that wages would also be a bunch lower for them.
It is also communism in that it takes from those with ability and gives to those with need... wealth redistribution that would make marx proud. obama is an islamo-communist.
LLS
Maximum unemployment benefits exceed $500 in several states. How much jobless pay would you get?
There are other factors at work here. I think Obama's "hiring tax" (Health Care Reform) effectively guarantees a high unemployment rate for as far as the eye can see.
Obama's Great Depression v.2. The guy is an economic imbecile. "Worst President, ever" is not a joke.
You can actually receive up to $628 per week in Massachusetts, at the time this article was writen. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/LearnToBudget/how-much-jobless-pay-would-you-get.aspx
Maximum weekly unemployment benefits listed, by state, in the above article.
Well you learn to sleep in, Pay little income tax, and your wife hasn’t lost her job, why should you ever work as long as rour check keeps coming. Gen Y is still living in mom’s basemrnt any way.
barbra ann
A lot of people, Obama type people, don’t even START to look for a job until the unemployment checks end.
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