You forget: That would require work. Oh, btw, they all dressed better than me, had nicer cars, had cell phones long before most people did and carried designer handbags. It was a one-week course on looking for work and resume writing and on Friday we’d have a pot luck. Some of them girls could cook!
There are many deterrents to going off the dole.
A small jump in income means the loss of a much higher value in benefits, so why risk a middle class lifestyle for one of genuine scratch by poverty?
Most starter jobs just do not pay enough to replace the bennies they reap, not by a longshot.
If the transitions were more gradational from dependence to self-reliance, perhaps more would want to work their way out, but with the jumps needed to replace lost benefits not likely in any economy, much less the one the US generally has, they will get what they can as long as they can.