Unemnployment insurance increased to 99 weeks. Socialist Amerika :(

[WhipperSnapper]

Others argue that the reason there are so many people still out of work is because they have unemployment benefits to fall back on. If they weren't getting a weekly check, they'd be forced to get a job.

What do you think?

I think those people are retards. They are living in some Fifties movie where jobs are abundant and good things happen to good people. In their world help wanted signs are everywhere and there is only one applicant for every ten jobs (and not 1000 applicants per job).

It's part of the "I've got mine, F-you!" mentality.

 

[PJABBER]

Just playing devil's advocate...you know that "creating" a job search isnt too difficult, right? And there's no penalty that Im aware of that says you HAVE to accept a job offer. So, you could a job offer a week, turn em all down, and still sit on your ass...if you wanted

I think the requirement is that you have to have just two documented applications for work per week to qualify for benefits. I am not sure about this, but if you get an offer and do not take it you can have the UI taken away.

I am sure enforcement varies by State, but with lots of people unemployed someone may never be contacted to provide the required documentation.

I work overseas a lot, so looking for work from Thailand or Panama or from some other place where the cost of living is quite reasonable would make sense. It would be a real PITA to fly back to the States just to get interviewed by some case officer, though.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

He's a sign of the times alright. His new job pays 50% less than his last job. Lost jobs being replaced with jobs that pay much less is just part of our nation's transformation into third world nationhood and the accompanying death of the American middle class.

 

[MJinZ]

I think the requirement is that you have to have just two documented applications for work per week to qualify for benefits. I am not sure about this, but if you get an offer and do not take it you can have the UI taken away.

I am sure enforcement varies by State, but with lots of people unemployed someone may never be contacted to provide the required documentation.

I work overseas a lot, so looking for work from Thailand or Panama or from some other place where the cost of living is quite reasonable would make sense. It would be a real PITA to fly back to the States just to get interviewed by some case officer, though.

Uh, when you're looking for an $100K/ year job, how many offers are expecting in this economy?

 

[MJinZ]

He's a sign of the times alright. His new job pays 50% less than his last job. Lost jobs being replaced with jobs that pay much less is just part of our nation's transformation into third world nationhood and the accompanying death of the American middle class.

Yup, if you want to know who has betrayed America, look no further than those who are outsourcing human resources to other countries.

That's the most blatant way of saying - we don't value the workers of our own country.

Meanwhiles, Goldman fucking ballsacks are betting on the downfall of the American Economy while making a boatload of cash. That's creating a LOT of productive product right there people.

 

[Cuda1447]

4-24-2010

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100424/ap_on_bi_ge/us_sandwich_board_job_hunter

Sandwich-board job hunter finds work after 2 years


NEW YORK – When laid-off toy company executive Paul Nawrocki hit the streets of Manhattan wearing a sandwich board and handing out his resume, he became the face of the recession.
At the end of 2008, with the giants of Wall Street collapsing and bank accounts dwindling, this lone, mustachioed job hunter with the sign proclaiming he was "almost homeless" seemed like a mirror of a slumping nation's fears and troubles.


Nawrocki appeared on CNN and was shadowed by South American photojournalists. In a handful of weeks, he gave more than 100 interviews in TV studios and on the street. He began to think of his photograph like a Post-it note — stuck next to seemingly every article about the economy.


Having the eyes of the world on him didn't land the then-59-year-old any viable job interviews. His wife was sick, and keeping his health care was a struggle. He began to decide between the doctors and the mortgage.


Well, if Paul Nawrocki is a sign of the times, then times are looking up.
Because last month, after collecting 99 weeks of unemployment, Nawrocki finally found a job.


Nawrocki hopes he's back on his feet after the long, dark stretch. But he knows he's still on shaky footing. The financial damage of the last two years won't just disappear.
"We're still not out of the woods," he says now. He has two mortgages on his home 70 miles north of Manhattan.
"One of our mortgages — I'm like six months behind. I don't know how I'm going to be able to catch up."
Nawrocki and his wife declared bankruptcy last year. They got food stamps. They went to food banks. They took gifts from family.


In the end, his path back to work wasn't through his television appearances, but through old-fashioned networking. He went to a toy-industry fair, and a friend introduced him to the man who would become his boss. Nawrocki believes the tales of his sandwich-board days helped him land an interview.
His paycheck is nearly half the size; he had made almost $100,000 a year. And his title is a little less grand.


=================================================
This guy literally punded the pavement of New York City for 99 weeks.


I know none of you silver spoon rich Republicans would ever do that or survive.


Congrats Mr Nawrocki for surviving despite the disgusting posters of P&N against you.

Awesome fucking story. He finally found a job making $50,000 a year. Took him 99 weeks. In the meantime, it would have been literally impossible for him to find a job making less, right? Bullfuckingshit. Publix, Target, Kash N' Kerry, McDonalds, Buger King, mowing lawns, gas stations... NO PLACE WOULD HIRE HIM? Or was it that his ego prevented him from working a job that paid $9 an hour. It was much easier to sit on his ass and do interviews on TV then to get a laborers job.


I don't have any sympathy. There are jobs out there if you're willing to work for less.

 

[Argo]

How about we get some use out of people collecting unemployment? Make them sweep the streets? Clean government buildings? Something in return for getting free money. Otherwise this is just absurd.

I can't wait for a backlash to all this insanity during next election - unfortunately that probably means we'll end up with republican congress, house and president. And the war against middle class and rich will be replaced with a war against gays and abortion.

 

[Balt]

How about we get some use out of people collecting unemployment? Make them sweep the streets? Clean government buildings? Something in return for getting free money. Otherwise this is just absurd.

Eh, any time you do something like that you have people complain that the private sector can't compete fairly with the program. If you had them do landscaping, for example, you would have landscaping companies complain about unfair competition.

At some point I think the UI needs to stop being extended, though. Sure unemployment is still high and it's hard to find a job, but jobs are still being created (as well as lost) every day. So unemployment may stay at 9%, but it doesn't mean the same exact people making up that 9% need to stay that way for two straight years.

 

[PJABBER]

Uh, when you're looking for an $100K/ year job, how many offers are expecting in this economy?

I don't really know. It depends on the specific background a person has and how open he is to relocation and working outside of a narrow specialization.

Certain jobs never have enough qualified applicants. And sometimes it takes guts to try something different if an opportunity presents itself.

A couple of times when I lost my job I went to work in commissioned sales with no salary. It was the hardest thing I ever did, but I made good money. Most companies that I know need salespeople, but can't find anyone that will put out the effort required.

Everywhere I go I read the local paper and I see tons of classified ads for jobs. Well, I do go mostly to large cities so this may not be the case in small communities with limited employment opportunities no matter what the general economic climate is.

There are temp jobs and shit jobs for sure, but most of these are at companies that have much better jobs available for anyone who demonstrates a good work ethic and learns the business of the company. It may take a couple of months or it may take a year for someone to advance but that is better than sitting around, and you can still send out $100K resumes while pulling that night shift filling salad dressing bottles on a conveyor line.

If you have bills to pay, and you can't find equivalent work within 60 - 90 days of being layed off I think it is going to be unlikely that you will go back to doing whatever it was that you were doing. It is time to take that wake up call and start hustling for the next opportunity to excel, no matter how dissapointed you may be at the way life has turned for you.

If the area you are living in has a 20% unemployment rate, I would find out where there is a sub-10% unemployment rate and move there to start knocking on some doors. It will be much easier to find work and you will be proactive.

Homeowners, people with young kids or dependent parents that are forced to stay put will have it much harder. But the primary wage earner needs to move and get some money flowing even if he is separated from his family for extended periods of time. I see many early stage immigrant breadwinners do this and it is an equally viable option for anyone looking at long term unemployment.

Long term unemployment debilitates people. It results in tremendous self doubt, family discord, even divorce. I think most people have to work to keep it all together. The sooner any work starts the more likely the negative effects will be staved off.

I thought I saw some job threads on this site but haven't read them. I think anyone in a position to hire should do so, even if it is only with an offer for part-time work. Even if you aren't in a position to hire you should do what you can to point people in the right direction for work any way you can. This will be the best "charitable" thing you will ever do.

 

[JEDI]

Until the jobs start returning en masse, this kind of thing is to be expected. The whole argument of 'those who are receiving unemployment benefits will not even try to find work' is complete bs. Unemployment benefits are so little that to say 'being on the dole is preferential to having a real paying job' is ludicrous. It is right up there with saying that being in poverty is ideal because of all the tax benefits and welfare.

in my state, unemployment is almost $9/hr. (~$350/week)

with my cash reserves, i can live off it for 99weeks.

unfortunately, i'd be w/o health insurance which is too great of a risk.
cobra would be too expensive unless Obama also extended the govt paying 60% of Cobra?

 

[blackangst1]

in my state, unemployment is almost $9/hr. (~$350/week)

with my cash reserves, i can live off it for 99weeks.

unfortunately, i'd be w/o health insurance which is too great of a risk.
cobra would be too expensive unless Obama also extended the govt paying 60% of Cobra?

I would have to dig up the link again but it seems to me the latest unemployment bill provied assistance/tax credit/something twoards cobra...you could prolly find it eaily enough.

 

[blackangst1]

Uh, when you're looking for an $100K/ year job, how many offers are expecting in this economy?

Have you ever looked at the number of jobs on places like the ladders for example? Im not saying theres an overabundance, but they arent exactly scarce either.

 

[Jhhnn]

Excellent denial by the usual righties. Lanyap offered a link to the Labor dept numbers & graphs- 5.5 applicants per job, any job...

But that doesn't matter, because, well, they see job ads in the newspaper and the internet... so everything's just fine, and people who now draw unemployment at a seriously reduced income level are just slackers, and they really don't want healthcare insurance, either. Why, they ought to just take it like a man, work at MickeyD's part time to make ends meet on that adjustable rate mortgage in the burbs, on the rest of the bills, too...

It's willful blindness in defense of a failed ideology and an economic malaise that's been building for years. My own quasi govt workplace and workgroup is filled with technicians who are refugees from private industry, who formerly made considerably more money than now... from the airlines, heavy equipment and automotive service industries, IT, electronics manufacturing, you name it... our talent pool has increased greatly over the last 10 years, because private industry tossed 'em aside like used condoms...

How well do we think people on welfare can support the general economy, anyway? because that's what's next for a lot of people if private industry doesn't start hiring.

 

[blackangst1]

Excellent denial by the usual righties. Lanyap offered a link to the Labor dept numbers & graphs- 5.5 applicants per job, any job...

But that doesn't matter, because, well, they see job ads in the newspaper and the internet... so everything's just fine, and people who now draw unemployment at a seriously reduced income level are just slackers, and they really don't want healthcare insurance, either. Why, they ought to just take it like a man, work at MickeyD's part time to make ends meet on that adjustable rate mortgage in the burbs, on the rest of the bills, too...

It's willful blindness in defense of a failed ideology and an economic malaise that's been building for years. My own quasi govt workplace and workgroup is filled with technicians who are refugees from private industry, who formerly made considerably more money than now... from the airlines, heavy equipment and automotive service industries, IT, electronics manufacturing, you name it... our talent pool has increased greatly over the last 10 years, because private industry tossed 'em aside like used condoms...

How well do we think people on welfare can support the general economy, anyway? because that's what's next for a lot of people if private industry doesn't start hiring.

And equally excellent skewed misinterpratation by the wacky liberal left. Great overgeneralizations with a few well placed words in other's mouths too! You hit an orgasmic number of looney left talking points too in one post! What a fine puppet you've become! Bravo!

 

[Slew Foot]

Fucking absurd.

 

[Hacp]

Excellent denial by the usual righties. Lanyap offered a link to the Labor dept numbers & graphs- 5.5 applicants per job, any job...

But that doesn't matter, because, well, they see job ads in the newspaper and the internet... so everything's just fine, and people who now draw unemployment at a seriously reduced income level are just slackers, and they really don't want healthcare insurance, either. Why, they ought to just take it like a man, work at MickeyD's part time to make ends meet on that adjustable rate mortgage in the burbs, on the rest of the bills, too...

It's willful blindness in defense of a failed ideology and an economic malaise that's been building for years. My own quasi govt workplace and workgroup is filled with technicians who are refugees from private industry, who formerly made considerably more money than now... from the airlines, heavy equipment and automotive service industries, IT, electronics manufacturing, you name it... our talent pool has increased greatly over the last 10 years, because private industry tossed 'em aside like used condoms...

How well do we think people on welfare can support the general economy, anyway? because that's what's next for a lot of people if private industry doesn't start hiring.

That is a function of labor unions, minimum wage and regulation. You see all the companies moving overseas? They would stay if they could operate as cheap here as they do overseas.

 

[Jhhnn]

And equally excellent skewed misinterpratation by the wacky liberal left. Great overgeneralizations with a few well placed words in other's mouths too! You hit an orgasmic number of looney left talking points too in one post! What a fine puppet you've become! Bravo!

When logic fails, when your ideology falls on its face, just go straight for denial, kill the messenger. You offer up pablum wrt unemployment, cite the ladders as evidence that there are enough jobs for everybody, when labor dept statistics say otherwise.

Oh, wait, we can't trust teh ebil gubmint to tell the truth about that, now can we? No... it's all a lie in pursuit of the socialist agenda, yeh, that's it...

 

[GoPackGo]

What Jobs?

In Minnesota you apply weekly online and the money is direct deposited into your checking account.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Until the jobs start returning en masse, this kind of thing is to be expected. The whole argument of 'those who are receiving unemployment benefits will not even try to find work' is complete bs. Unemployment benefits are so little that to say 'being on the dole is preferential to having a real paying job' is ludicrous. It is right up there with saying that being in poverty is ideal because of all the tax benefits and welfare.

This. Spot on.

 

[TruePaige]

That is a function of labor unions, minimum wage and regulation. You see all the companies moving overseas? They would stay if they could operate as cheap here as they do overseas.

So we just have to work for a dollar a day?

$365 a year if we kill ourselves 7 days a week?

 

[Throckmorton]

Excellent denial by the usual righties. Lanyap offered a link to the Labor dept numbers & graphs- 5.5 applicants per job, any job...

But that doesn't matter, because, well, they see job ads in the newspaper and the internet... so everything's just fine, and people who now draw unemployment at a seriously reduced income level are just slackers, and they really don't want healthcare insurance, either. Why, they ought to just take it like a man, work at MickeyD's part time to make ends meet on that adjustable rate mortgage in the burbs, on the rest of the bills, too...

It's willful blindness in defense of a failed ideology and an economic malaise that's been building for years. My own quasi govt workplace and workgroup is filled with technicians who are refugees from private industry, who formerly made considerably more money than now... from the airlines, heavy equipment and automotive service industries, IT, electronics manufacturing, you name it... our talent pool has increased greatly over the last 10 years, because private industry tossed 'em aside like used condoms...

How well do we think people on welfare can support the general economy, anyway? because that's what's next for a lot of people if private industry doesn't start hiring.

Quasi government??

 

[Siddhartha]

To keep the dream alive, I hope the GOP makes getting rid of Unemployment Insurance* a plank in their national platform.

*Particularly when the country is in a severe recession where the unemployment rate is around 10% or higher.

 

[Kappo]

OP, while I agree with you in spirit, unemployment benefits are not even enough to cover my house payment. I can't imagine that ~$1000/mo is enough to keep the people who matter afloat.

 

[palehorse]

Awesome fucking story. He finally found a job making $50,000 a year. Took him 99 weeks. In the meantime, it would have been literally impossible for him to find a job making less, right? Bullfuckingshit. Publix, Target, Kash N' Kerry, McDonalds, Buger King, mowing lawns, gas stations... NO PLACE WOULD HIRE HIM? Or was it that his ego prevented him from working a job that paid $9 an hour. It was much easier to sit on his ass and do interviews on TV then to get a laborers job.

I don't have any sympathy. There are jobs out there if you're willing to work for less.

This.

About a decade ago, I lost a 65k/yr job, collected unemployment for just two months, but then started waiting tables and helping out at my friend's landscaping company instead -- all while I looked for a new engineering job. Perhaps it's just the way I was raised, but being on the govn't dime, even for just two months, actually made me feel guilty.

99 months is just plain fucking ridiculous.

 

[ciproxr]

OP, while I agree with you in spirit, unemployment benefits are not even enough to cover my house payment. I can't imagine that ~$1000/mo is enough to keep the people who matter afloat.

what do you mean the people who "matter" ? Correct me if im wrong but are you saying people who collect unemployment and to get by don't matter ?