TheQueen
07-02-2010, 11:49 AM
Would-be Nevada Senator Sharron Angle has recently taken to depicting America's unemployed as a group of people so spoiled by the extension of unemployment benefits that they have basically stopped looking for work, preferring to live on the dole than accept one of the many magical jobs she claims are available. Angle's position is one that's been gaining steam recently among 2010 candidates -- Rand Paul, for example, recently characterized the unemployed as a group that needs to accept "a wage that's less than we had at our previous job in order to get back to work," adding, "Nobody likes that, but it may be one of the tough love things that has to happen."
It's not just candidates, however. Representative John Linder (R-Ga.) -- the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee -- citing a "Detroit News story about landscaping businesses complaining that potential employees rejected job offers in favor of collecting unemployment benefits," decreed that "nearly two years of unemployment benefits are too much of an allure for some."
But Linder's example happens to be an exception. The basic reality for America's job seekers is that currently there are five people looking for work for every job opening. The average unemployment benefit is a scant $290 per week. And, as Arthur Delaney reported on these pages in early June, there are other difficult-to-ignore facts that harpoon the notion that the unemployed are content to live off benefits:
CONTINUE READING (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/02/unemployment-rate-jobless_n_633805.html)
It's not just candidates, however. Representative John Linder (R-Ga.) -- the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee -- citing a "Detroit News story about landscaping businesses complaining that potential employees rejected job offers in favor of collecting unemployment benefits," decreed that "nearly two years of unemployment benefits are too much of an allure for some."
But Linder's example happens to be an exception. The basic reality for America's job seekers is that currently there are five people looking for work for every job opening. The average unemployment benefit is a scant $290 per week. And, as Arthur Delaney reported on these pages in early June, there are other difficult-to-ignore facts that harpoon the notion that the unemployed are content to live off benefits:
CONTINUE READING (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/02/unemployment-rate-jobless_n_633805.html)