How long do you think unemployment benefits should be extended for? It started at 26 weeks, extended to 52, and right now they are arguing over 99 weeks.
The way the job market stands currently, unemployment needs to be extended for quite awhile longer than 26 weeks, in fact 99 may not be quite enough during this recession given the high costs of keeping a family's health insurance and other important needs. Hell, people are having trouble getting jobs at Target and McDonalds because they're overqualified, not that such income could pay their mortgages anyway. Before they can have a true cut-off to unemployment there needs to be solid safety measures for the families who'll still need to eat, have good health care, and not lose their homes or their vehicles so they can get to the job interviews in the first place.
Do you think that at some point, people have a responsibility to move to where there is more work in their field?
(That's one argument presented on another board I'm on. I'm not sure how it applies to people like admins, but I guess I could have moved to a city with more big companies when I was out of work...)
A)Currently things are so heinous all over that there may not be a better place for one's industry, B) the cost of moving can be simply impossible for a family already out of savings and receiving the small amount that is unemployment (which trust me ain't much!), and C) moving for the job can become a vicious cycle in too many fields, and discombobulating your children and your spouse's career to move can be a disaster; it can be the answer but it's not something that should be expected as a given. I *do* think that people should be expected to work in a different field if such a job becomes available AND the pay would be what they needed to maintain at least a semblance of their current standard of living; not talking wealth, just that a family of 5 with mom in a wheelchair shouldn't have to lose their home and move into a one bedroom 5 floor walkup if it can be avoided. Frankly our gov't needs to be busting their asses to create jobs and use bailout funds correctly so that various industries can hire again, instead of taking off
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I would have to agree... this is the equivalent of the dot-com bubble burst back in the 2000-2004 or so period. Friends of mine who were highly qualified went 3 years after getting laid off by Bell Labs (so you know they were extremely intelligent/qualified) before they found something. Myself, I got lucky and found something within a year. But even then, I could not get a job at Walmart, McD's or any other place folks normally spout, because I was "over qualified". The only difference now is that this is a fundamental issue affecting all sectors, as opposed to just a few sectors. And so, having been laid off in Janurary, and well along with my 26 weeks, I am afraid of loosing everything between the BS still lingering from my divorce in 2008, and not being able to find a job. Places I have put in applications or who even contacted me seem interested at first, but then **nothing** happens, because they are not sure they will have the funding. Even traditionally secure employers such as universities and government are not secure
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I would have to agree... this is the equivalent of the dot-com bubble burst back in the 2000-2004 or so period. Friends of mine who were highly qualified went 3 years after getting laid off by Bell Labs (so you know they were extremely intelligent/qualified) before they found something. Myself, I got lucky and found something within a year. But even then, I could not get a job at Walmart, McD's or any other place folks normally spout, because I was "over qualified". The only difference now is that this is a fundamental issue affecting all sectors, as opposed to just a few sectors. And so, having been laid off in Janurary, and well along with my 26 weeks, I am afraid of loosing everything between the BS still lingering from my divorce in 2008, and not being able to find a job. Places I have put in applications or who even contacted me seem interested at first, but then **nothing** happens, because they are not sure they will have the funding. Even traditionally secure employers such as universities and government are not secure.
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Do you think that at some point, people have a responsibility to move to where there is more work in their field?
(That's one argument presented on another board I'm on. I'm not sure how it applies to people like admins, but I guess I could have moved to a city with more big companies when I was out of work...)
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California has no $$ for unemployment benefits - they're actually getting it from the feds because in most areas unemployment's 11%
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