[Kickass Conservative]

I must be missing something.

When you collect Unemployment you are supposed to be looking for work. You can’t “voluntarily” collect Unemployment because you just don’t want to work, right?

Unemployment is not available to those who were Fired for cause from their Jobs. It is for People who were laid off due to no fault of their own, AKA the Kung Flu shutdowns.

Nowadays it sounds like you can just decide that Working for
a living isn’t for you without suffering any negative financial implications. Man, is America great or what?

[entropy12]

It USED to be that way. IIRC one had to be laid off or fired to be eligible for unemployment. Now you can quit for nefarious reasons and collect.

[entropy12]

Take it from me, #1 reason people want to come to America is for the freebies.

[Svartalfiar]

I must be missing something.

When you collect Unemployment you are supposed to be looking for work. You can’t “voluntarily” collect Unemployment because you just don’t want to work, right?

For most of the past year, States got rid of work search requirements because the lockdowns meant no one was really hiring. They've mostly reinstated those requirements, but I'm sure for most people it's easy to accomplish the 3-5 activities per week and avoid the places that you know are willing to hire you. Or just not respond when the company contacts you, so they never giver you a job offer. You applied, which checks off one of the boxen for that week. And no one offered you a job, so you don't have to explain why you didn't take it.

Luckily, Texas dropped the bonus stuff, so there's no extra $$ per week, and the 13-week extension is gone too.