Yes, there is actually a good argument for that. Once people become unemployed and go on the bench for more than a few months, the skills and habits that could get them into a new job deteriorate rapidly. It is likely cost-efficient to employ them short-term, even in a money losing venture, than to have them go on the dole.
A large number of people who have been sitting around since Obama took office are now likely unemployable.
That’s right; one of the problems that Western European countries had 30 years ago with socialism was the government was running jobs programs like that constantly. Anyone who wanted a job could get one cleaning sidewalks or something similar, and the financial burden was too much for the system. Now they (like us) pay them not to work...