Unemployment: How the Lazy Are Hurting the Needy

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I agree with Jim. I've set up interviews with candidates & they do not show up to the interview. Of the people that I've hired that were unemployed, they've been the worst employees and I have to let them go. Many of them didn't seem to care they were losing the job either. It's sad to see the abundance of candidates with poor work ethic. A lot of them would rather take the government hand out instead of being a productive member of society.

Lashell of CA 12:15AM February 27, 2013

I've had two scheduled interviews with folks on back to back days now, and neither have shown up. It is becoming more and more obvious the only reason they contacted me at all about the job was to be able to continue their unemployment benefits.
This country is a joke.

Jim of NJ 10:20AM January 16, 2013

"Anybody who has collected unemployment insurance knows that some paying jobs provide less money than is available by collecting a government check."
The only jobs that pay as much or more than unemployment don't pay a living wage in the first place. You certainly can't live on unemployment.

John Kantor of FL 3:46PM August 19, 2012

I am a CPA with many years experience. Although I am a mature woman, I look good, dress well, and don't have any social problems. I have been searching for a job for 3 years now. I can get contract jobs - but I can't get a full time job. I have applied for basic jobs and for jobs that I'm fully qualified for. In many instances the company has hired someone with less experience, skills, than I have. If the recruiters know why I'm not being hired, they don't tell me - which makes me think that it's illegal. You know, discrimination. They keep telling me to keep trying. Any idea how disheartening that can be after 3 years? I once took a contract job 70 miles away (the per hour wasn't bad - it just wasn't good). Do you know how long that took me to get there? I live in San Diego. Do not call me lazy!! And I know there are lots of others out there just like me.

Karen of CA 10:54PM July 26, 2012

Companies are unable to find "qualified" candidates because there aren't enough people among the unemployed that meet these unreleastic "plug and play" hiring standards. This is true even for supposed "entry-level" positions. I graduated from a top-tier public university a year ago with a solid (3.5+) gpa, and I don't meet the minimum requirements for even the most basic office jobs because I don't have any strict office experience. In a time where education is being stressed above all else, it seems like employers are failing to meet recent graduates half-way, by taking the time to train them. I know I need to work hard, and continue my education just to get my foot in the door, so it's disheartening and irritating to encounter lazy employers who expect the ideal candidate to materialize out of thin air.

Michael of NC 1:21PM July 02, 2012

I found your report instructive reading the whole article. It doesn't cover the part where many people receiving cash doesn't has to pay taxes and the payee doesn't report it also, so it goes undetectable. So many of these people receives benefits for a very long time. And besides I found that many people come for foreigns countries almos on time to get social security and start cashing in benefits and going back to their countries.
All the agencies like HOC and other agencies should have a private auditor checking if their employees are helping their friends getting into the system also. If we don't clean house, the benefits like you said goes to the lazies not to the needed.

Adie of MD 12:45PM May 04, 2012

Nobody mentioned illegals . I have to reg. my vehicle and abide the laws of our country if not i am in trouble. but when I show up at home depot and see business owner hiring illegals i have to grin and bare it . and no i am not racially profiling . i am complaining about people that are working in this country illegal and sending most of there money to there country. It is a double standard .this has been going on for years and a reasonable prudent person know that 75% of the people hanging out for work at home depot are illegals , heck they acknowledge it on a tv series .and nothing is done . And don't give me the crappy line that the Americans will not do this work is a crock .Plus there are starting to do skilled labor jobs and forcing companies out that have to follow by insurance and lic. laws . this country is doomed i will give it maybe 50 years then you can say by by to the good old USA

superheadcase of CA 4:52PM April 13, 2012

Unemployment is only going down if you're leaving out U-6, if you're leaving out U-6 you lose all credibility.
People are dropping out of the workforce because there's no jobs.
Improving my ass, I've been out of work for 5+ years and can only find backbreaking day labor jobs that'll have me working for 8+ hours and with a daily paycheck of 10 dollars.
You must address the federal reserve system!

unemployable of WA 10:30AM April 13, 2012

Also, by the way, just saying: "How the Lazy Are Hurting the Needy" is the most inaccurate and insulting headline I can think of in recent memory--well, unless by "Lazy" you mean business-owners who want something for nothing. And if by "Needy" you mean people with things like excellent work histories, years of quality experience, M.A.'s and PhD's and outstanding recommendations, who can't find jobs because either they don't exist or because they naively expect to be treated like human beings and not as disposable shop-towels in the modern workplace. If THAT'S what you mean, then, well, okay. Then it's brilliant headline. But, I don't really think you meant it that way..did you? So, you're really just going about kicking people who are already putting out dozens of resume's and C.V.'s per month--for years on end in some cases--all to no avail. So, yeah. WOW. What a terrible, unjust headline. You should be horsewhipped for it. That's not reporting, friends, it's assault and battery with a blunt subject.

R. H. Schmitt, Jr. of NJ 12:15PM April 12, 2012

Mr. Newman,
I have to say that this is some of the most skewed "reporting" I have ever seen. Did you imagine that you were being clever? You mention "evidence" of "perverse" abuses in the unemployment benefits system, but never present any of it. You write: Surveys by the National Federation of Independent Business... show that small businesses are finally...hiring more workers. But of those that are hiring, 76 percent said recently that they can't find qualified applicants...Part of the reason, not surprisingly, is that people lack the right skills or work history. But business owners also report that 16 percent of the applicants they reject have poor social skills, 20 percent have unrealistic expectations about pay, and 14 percent have a poor appearance." But you never really legitimately vet or challenge the 4 main assertions leveled by this conservative lobbying group. I'll handle just one of them for you, so you get the idea of how it's done, ok? So, the NFIB alleges that "20 percent of [job applicants] have unrealistic expectaions about pay..." But what is "unrealistic" in context? If you want to hire someone to handle every crucial aspect of your labor-intensive sales process like running cash registers, AND stocking shelves, AND being an effective customer service rep (ie:being the face of your store or company while you're playing golf or managing money, etc.) why should an offered starting wage of $9.50 per hour (or less in some cases) be considered a fair or "realistic" wage? You can't put a roof over your head with it. You can't buy food with it. You can't raise a family on it. You can't pay doctor's bills with it (since these "independent" employers aren't offering any health insurance to speak of either. Or, if they are, they put the lion's share of the cost on the already underpaid, overworked employee. $6.25 per hour anyone?). Excuse me, for pointing out the obvious here, Mr. Newman, but I see you have a labor-side 800 lb. RTI. problem here that any business owner, or Chief Business Correspondent with a bestseller under his ample belt should immediately recognize if he or she were NOT sandbagging us: the NFIB and their conservative lapdogs in congress want to cut the very substance--the very heart--out of unemployment insurance to thus force those who are unemployed into permanent low-wage, no-health-care, servitude. I understand, your perspective, Mr. Newman. I too feel badly for the poor business owners. They must be growing "so tired" of having their insulting, unrealistic wage offers rejected by potential employees who still have a few weeks of benefits on which to depend. The facts are that company owners and investors are collecting historically massive profits and dividends while, at the same time, are offering historically low wages and impecunious do-nothing benefits. You also write that curent unemployment benefits are "generous." Wow. I think I speak for the rest of the 99% when I ask you, "what planet are you from?"

R. H. Schmitt, Jr. of NJ 12:03PM April 12, 2012