Work vs Unemployment

Work vs Unemployment


So this is a blog I have had on the back burner for a little while. I originally intended to write this up back in October, however I had the whole “Experience List” series going on at the time and this just ended up getting pushed back. However, here we are on the day I receive my second paycheck from my new job. How does that feel, you might ask? Well not that great since it only pays a grand total of $10 more a week than what I was netting pay wise on unemployment benefits… yeah just magnificent.

Granted my job here does has a commission/bonus system that would up my base pay considerably, but you don’t qualify for a bonus until you have worked for the company for 30 days, and even then with the mess I inherited at the center I’m managing…. Well it’ll probably be January or February before I have a legitimate shot at receiving any bonus money.

Of course the real reason for this blog (and I apologize in advance if this ends up rambling) isn’t to rip completely on my new job* However, when I think about it, what is/was my real incentive of getting off of unemployment? To be completely honest, I would have looked for work hardier and earlier if I had not known how well my unemployment benefits would be taking care of me. Truly It was only when I knew I would be running out of benefits for real (as I hit the first extension in July, but I knew that would come), that I really start searching hard for a job.

The worst part about being on unemployment was having the feeling of being a hypocrite, as I am one for a very limited government, without public safety nets like long term unemployment or social security. And there I was for roughly eight months surviving on one of those safety nets I oppose. Of course I had money saved up from my working days that I would have lived on, but unemployment benefits meant that I didn’t have to spend any of my savings. This honestly left little incentive to go out and find a job where I’d have to work 40 hours a week, when I was making decent money by just applying for a handful of jobs a week.

I justified the hypocrite feeling to myself by spinning it as I was proving my own point…. That unemployment encourages people to stay out of work.^ I fully believed and still do believe that I could have found a job much faster than I did, granted it wouldn’t have been a great job… or even a good job, but I could have found a job in three months. And really the job I have now is far from “great” at least that is my thought one month into my employment, so what I took in a rush might not have been that much worse.

Sure there was also the negative of having to tell people you were unemployed when people asked what you were doing now days, and you had no choice but to answer that you are unemployed. However, when the unemployment rate has been hovering around 10% for the last 18 months, you have a lot of company in your field which makes it a lot less of a negative. In fact my current job has more of a negative stereotype attached to it than I ever felt from being unemployed. I’ve had to defend my employment at a payday loan job as a legit business way more than I was ever hounded about being on unemployment, its hands down no contest in that regard. I actually honestly feel worse about explaining/justifying my job now; when I know I shouldn’t feel bad at all.

What does this all mean… I’m not sure, I did end up rambling a lot, but I guess the moral of this blog is that unemployment is a problem currently affecting us, however, with our current unemployment system and sentiments of the population it doesn’t seem like there is that much of an encouraging factor for people to get off of the benefits, other than the fear of them running out. And even then we are greeted with jobs we won’t be that excited for and that may even been as openly acceptable as surviving off of a government safety net. And this doesn’t quite sit right to me looking back on my personal experience.



*Ok mini rant… So Yesterday I had to come into work on my day off because the other girl I work with called in sick yet again. I call my boss hoping I won’t have to come in as this is the last day in our pay period and any work I did that day would be Overtime… Which I need to mention overtime is paid at half pay… so I’m making less than minimum wage if I have to go in, and it cost me $10 in gas to get to work and back on any day I work. Anyway, my boss never responds so I end up going into work, where I see she faxed everyone saying she wasn’t available today. Ugh. So I end up working all day, I was so pissed. Giving up my day off in order to make 45 bucks before gas and taxes… And yes I realize I shouldn’t have been mad at my co-worker for being sick, but I was. – End Rant –


^Now don’t get me wrong, I see the need for unemployment benefits on the short term, maybe 3 months tops but a very limited amount of money a week. Also it would probably be better to make it harder, like make people actually go to the unemployment office rather than apply for benefits at their leisure from the comfort of their own home, like I did online every week. Add in the fact that I just withdrew the money off of my unemployment debit card and deposited it in my bank every week, no one had to know I was unemployed so I never really felt bad/ashamed of unemployment.