Unemployment benefits

[PrincessPerky]

I am currently living on unemployment....(husbands, I haven't worked for pay in years) And I STILL voted there should be no benefits.

'sticking it to the company' is just passing it on to workers, why do you think a company would rather pay huge moving fees to move their jobs to other countries? Countries with no unemployment benefits, no state mandated Medicare/Medicaid/SS/HR hassles.

In India, a person applies for a job, gets paid X amount per hour. Big American company pays X plus Y for his work (gotta pay the contract company that speaks Hindi to hire him) Plus T for translation/transportation it isn't free to move a help desk over.

In America you hire a guy for X, then you pay Y overhead, then you have to pay H for an HR person (not that I object to Jim's wife having a job...) Then you also pay M for medical, (even if you offer no 'real' help with health, you have to offer a 'plan' that takes man hours) Then you also pay R for retirement (again match or not you generally have to offer a plan, more man hours) Then you pay U for unemployment, and SS for Social security, and F for free healthcare for others (not your employed person generally) and W for taxes to pay for welfare.

Which would you rather hire, fellow at cost X+y+t=?
Or fellow at cost X+Y+H+M+R+U+SS+F=?

Not to mention I prolly missed a few letters in there I think America has a goal of making as many different taxes and hidden fees for hiring a person as possible. You would think their goal is actually to keep folk unemployed.

Seriously folk, big business will always be about the bottom line, and small business is slowly being regulated out of the ability to care beyond the (disappearing) bottom line.

Stop trying to get the government to regulate big business into being 'nice' you can't do it. Kinda like teaching a pig to dance, annoys the pig and gets you all dirty (you not the pig). And no one has energy to dance at the end.

[melissa15531]

My husband worked for the state of Pennsylvania for 3 years and was laid off with out any reason. He has been on unemployment for almost 1 year now and has applied to about 100 jobs. He has had not 1 job interview as of today! He has been working with the department of labor and Industry to help him get a job, but it has been months already and they are more focused on any disabilities he might have. My husband is ready and willing to work and if it were not for the unemployment benefits we would have to go on welfare. So what would be better? My husband is actively trying to find a job, but where we live there just are none.

[jIM_Ohio]

Melissa-

I feel for people in your situation... and just because I believe in "less" unemployment (or less handouts in general- which would also include welfare), does not mean I am not sympathetic, or think that simply removing the programs is the answer.

The basic flaw with the system (IMO) is that people vote, but companies control the politicians (by lobbying). We cannot vote for companies or vote for lobbyists, and there are politicians which believe they should just "stick it to the businesses".

My wife deals with the front line of when companies have the government sticking it to them. High unemployment insurance, right to work, firing for cause, costs of paying more in SS or medicare taxes and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

My standpoint is I think its OK for WORKERS to pay these taxes, but I do not think its right to require employers to pay them too. This method of hidden taxation does 2 things
1) It suggests that small businesses are too risky- because when you hire someone the "overhead" of hiring that person is high based on the 8%+ taxes owed on earning alone, plus other things like unemployment (which are above the 8% in medicare and SS taxes).
2) The employers are being taxes without being "legally" represented in government. I believe a founding principal of the US was taxation without representation, but the polticians and lawyers are playing a different game than you and me.

The solution is the government just needs to stop playing god (meaning being all things to all people and entities)... and then employers will be able to hire more people without fear of government intervention.

Employers have a fear in hiring people- my wife is seeing this in client after client. Unless the head count adds to the revenue pool, the risk for hiring that person is too high in the current environment.

[BadSaver]

1-year please

I vote for 1-year. Normally I'd say six months but this recession is very bad. The worst unemployment wise since the Great Depression.

[red92s]

I've been collecting unemployment since the beginning of October 2009, so I just finished up my fifth month of collecting benefits. I'm a young, motivated, well-educated engineer with a couple years experience and glowing recommendations and this is how my job search went.

In those five months:

• I applied to over 100 jobs.
• I was contacted by over 30 recruiters about positions.
• I had over 20 phone interviews
• I had only 6 in-person interviews

In the last five days, I've had three job offers, and accepted a great position. I start in mid March. Just goes to show that with working professionals, the job search and interview process can take a long time, even if you are extremely dedicated to it. I applied to the job I accepted in early JANUARY. The countless rounds of phone screens, in person interviews, and reference checks drag the process out to 3 months pretty easily.

Put me on the list of people who thought, prior to Q4 2009, that UI benefits were for lazy people taking government handouts. For anyone that really thinks that, I recommend you try it out for awhile and see if your tune changes. Financial hardships aside, it is an incredibly demoralizing process. Try feeling like a non-productive member of society for 5 months and see if your self-esteem does not take a hit. Try going to a wedding and saying "I was laid off" to 20 people you haven't seen in years and seeing the immediate judgment. Try telling people you moved back in with your parents 9 years after leaving, and seeing the disapproving looks. Try not even getting rejection letters from 90% of your applications and see if you don't start to think less of yourself.

Getting close to having my benefits expire wasn't the motivating factor for me, being able to stop having everyone look at me like a leper every time the subject came up was waaaayyy more incentive than that.

[jIM_Ohio]

I've been collecting unemployment since the beginning of October 2009, so I just finished up my fifth month of collecting benefits. I'm a young, motivated, well-educated engineer with a couple years experience and glowing recommendations and this is how my job search went.

In those five months:

• I applied to over 100 jobs.
• I was contacted by over 30 recruiters about positions.
• I had over 20 phone interviews
• I had only 6 in-person interviews

In the last five days, I've had three job offers, and accepted a great position. I start in mid March. Just goes to show that with working professionals, the job search and interview process can take a long time, even if you are extremely dedicated to it. I applied to the job I accepted in early JANUARY. The countless rounds of phone screens, in person interviews, and reference checks drag the process out to 3 months pretty easily.

Put me on the list of people who thought, prior to Q4 2009, that UI benefits were for lazy people taking government handouts. For anyone that really thinks that, I recommend you try it out for awhile and see if your tune changes. Financial hardships aside, it is an incredibly demoralizing process. Try feeling like a non-productive member of society for 5 months and see if your self-esteem does not take a hit. Try going to a wedding and saying "I was laid off" to 20 people you haven't seen in years and seeing the immediate judgment. Try telling people you moved back in with your parents 9 years after leaving, and seeing the disapproving looks. Try not even getting rejection letters from 90% of your applications and see if you don't start to think less of yourself.

Getting close to having my benefits expire wasn't the motivating factor for me, being able to stop having everyone look at me like a leper every time the subject came up was waaaayyy more incentive than that.

I think a 20% success rate (application to interview) is great. 10% or 5% is my experience I think...

congrats on new position

[PrincessPerky]

I never quite grasped the idea that one not being paid made one an unproductive member of the society.

But then like I said, I haven't been paid to work in years. I have done PLENTY of work, but no one pays me for it. (and no I don't mean taking care of my house, and kids, though I do that too)

There are enough unpaid jobs in this world that no one need be unproductive just because they can't find paid work.

Though nothing wrong with finding paid work, there is something inherently wrong with thinking badly of another for being unpaid.

[ThePennyHoarder]

Agh...I'm afraid I have to categorically disagree. There's no doubt that there are examples of people choosing to stay home and collect their check. But, by and large unemployment isn't caused by people choosing not to work, it is caused by job seekers outnumbering available jobs in the marketplace. If the former hypothesis was true we could expect to see jobs go unfilled since lazy workers would be unmotivated to apply. However, the Labor Department reports that there are five jobs seekers for every job available at the moment. And anecdotally, anyone who has been hiring manager in the last two years knows the plethora of applications/resumes that are received when a new job is posted. Would we really expect the unemployment rate to be lower if all the sudden we took benefits away from the laid off? I think most people would agree that extending unemployment benefits to 99 weeks in a normal economy could be a disincentive to the unemployed, but in periods of hyper unemployment it certainly doesn't negatively affect the unemployment rate.

Also, to say that unemployment benefits aren't stimulative can't be right either. Alicia's right - the studies show that for every $1 the federal/state government spends on unemployment benefits the economy gets back $1.60. Simply because those only receiving $175 a week are most likely to spend every dollar they receive and that quickly replicates by stimulating local businesses who often turn the extra revenue into jobs. Economists also say its one of the best stimulative actions the government can take because most of the money ends up staying in the US. Presumably, because people are spending that money on rent, food, and healthcare. That contrasts with tax cuts for the wealthy which often do a better job of stimulating Taiwan's economy than our own.

[cptacek]

I don't think that anyone even mentioned if unemployment benefits were stimulative or unstimulative. No one named Alicia said anything about federal spending in this thread, and no one mentioned tax cuts for the wealthy. Where did you get that?

[maat55]

what he (she?) said.

Male.

[GrimJack]

I have to disagree with your assumtion that EVERYONE is against UI until it happens to them. I'm sure that there are a lot of people, probably a lot on these boards that are against extended UI even if it did happen to them. As far as drug testing, I had to take a drug test before I started my current job, and i don't feel like a criminal. It is a condition of employment at almost ANY job to be subjected to random drug testing and to remain drug free, so why can't it be a condition of unemployment as well?

And there are people on this board who are for UI. You are for drug-testing people on UI - do you work for a drug-testing company? WTF does drug-testing have to do with unemployment? Is it just some sort of 'punishment' you want to impose on someone who is unemployed? What sort of drugs do you suggest they get tested for? Do you know the cost of a drug test?

After 18 months of unemployment, I finally found a job. I am sliding headlong into Social Security and SS uses the last 3 years to determine (actually, I think the formula is more complex than that but....) the amount you receive - I am going to have to work at least another 3 years before I consider retiring (that and DW is 14 years younger than me and not interested in retiring yet).

[cantretire]

I'm so sick of people, who don't know me, telling me that I am lazy or unmotivated. There are not enough jobs to go around.

I worked as an AA for a Big Financial Company. The stockholders were losing a few pennies a share, and that company did not get a bail out, so 300 of us were laid off on 1/31/09. I did not lose my job for something I did. I worked my a$$ off for that place for nearly 5 years.

I have had many phone interviews and some face-to-face. One employer said that they received 700 applications. I have 25+ years of experience, a BA magna cum laude, and know all the software that I'm supposed to. I've applied for positions paying the highest that I think I'm worth, to stock jobs at the local drug stores. I've been close, but still, no offers. I usually look for work 7 days a week, but occasionally take a day off to relieve the stress. I recently looked at my LinkedIn page and of 20 people that were laid off with me in my connections list, only 2 are employed and they are only employed because they started their own consulting businesses. They are struggling.

I just moved back in with my parents, taking over the 2nd floor apartment. They refuse to collect rent until I'm back to work and have built up my EF again. They don't want me to touch what is left so that I can still pay my bills if UI ends before I find something. I'm so lucky to have them, and I can't help but think about the people who don't have anywhere to go.

If UI ends, I don't know what I'll do. I could probably get food stamps, but as I don't have children, I probably won't qualify for welfare or medical insurance help. If I can't get help, I'll be forced to file bankruptcy.

I want a normal life again. I want to get back to putting money in the bank - instead of taking it out - and contributing to my 401K. I want to pay off my student loans for the degree that was supposed to help me compete in the job market. I want to sleep at night. I'm sick of people saying, "apply to McDonalds", "Google is hiring", "have you tried ____?", "Go back to school and be a nurse" and the countless other assinine things they say. I know most are trying to help, but I wish they would just shut up, try to cheer me up and buy me a cup of coffee so we can talk about their kids or something.

And I really, really want people to get off their high horses and stop treating me like sh*t.

[maat55]

And there are people on this board who are for UI. You are for drug-testing people on UI - do you work for a drug-testing company? WTF does drug-testing have to do with unemployment? Is it just some sort of 'punishment' you want to impose on someone who is unemployed? What sort of drugs do you suggest they get tested for? Do you know the cost of a drug test?

After 18 months of unemployment, I finally found a job. I am sliding headlong into Social Security and SS uses the last 3 years to determine (actually, I think the formula is more complex than that but....) the amount you receive - I am going to have to work at least another 3 years before I consider retiring (that and DW is 14 years younger than me and not interested in retiring yet).

It does not matter what I think of it, I pay it and am exempt from getting it.

Last time I was under employed, I sold my house to get out of debt. UI wasn't even a though on my mind.

[GrimJack]

It does not matter what I think of it, I pay it and am exempt from getting it.

Last time I was under employed, I sold my house to get out of debt. UI wasn't even a though on my mind.

Sorry about reviving this old, tired thread but I thought you might like to see this story - it might bring home the fact that Unemployment Insurance really is insurance and not 'need based'. Even millionaires qualify.

[maat55]

Sorry about reviving this old, tired thread but I thought you might like to see this story - it might bring home the fact that Unemployment Insurance really is insurance and not 'need based'. Even millionaires qualify.

As they should, their employer paid for their benefits. What is rediculous is that the unemployment commission even taxes them and makes them eligible.

I guess they think that they can get the taxes without them filing. They are probably right.

Just out of curiosity, I went through the online filing process for my state. I was denied due to I had no employers in the last 18 months. I am calling tomorrow to ask first hand.

As far as I'm concerned, I do not qualify and would not ever consider claiming benefits if I could.