[magkelly]

There are people where I live who have been laid off now for more than 2 years. Those extra weeks, that was a godsend to most of them while it lasted. For the record it's so bad here you can't even get a job at most McDonald's. All the big box stores, they're not hiring. Neither are the offices, construction companies, etc. Most people will do anything at this point, but they can't get anyone to hire them no matter what they do. Many jobs seeker are out of work for 18 months now, even longer, and many they never return to their former jobs.

I have a friend who's job is a booth out at the local flea market. She spends countless hours every week scrounging for whatever she can sell just to keep food on the table and the mortgage paid. She was laid off from her regular retail job 3 years ago. Her husband was laid off a year later. She finally gave up finding another retail job after a year and a half of being turned down. He's just been hired as a maintenance guy for minimum wage after a serious 2 year job search and for the record the guy is a professionally trained truck driver and a journeyman level electrician and he still can't get a job in either field.

Those two, they're busting their arses just trying to keep their roof. Last year they finally ended up in bankruptcy court after several years of trying not to go there. They had no other option if they wanted to keep their old house, none. There are weeks where they eat mac and cheese almost every night just to make that mortgage payment.

For the record they didn't land where they are now because they overspent. He was injured on the job and was laid up then laid off. She lost her retail job like everyone else in this area because of budget cutbacks. At a time when most retail outfits should be gearing up and hiring on people for the holidays most of the local retail places here are struggling to keep what people they can.

I always laugh when Washington tries to tell us that this recession isn't so bad. I know better. Something like 1/3 of the houses in this neighborhood are up for sale because of foreclosures. There hasn't hardly been a legit "help wanted" add for anything really in the past year.

The really bad thing?

Everyone and his mother seems to think that if they can't make it in their own state then they'll just come and try here. It only ads to the bad situation but no one seemingly bothers to actually check the unemployment rate here before they move.

There are people with degrees and skills here who'd gladly scrub floors given the opportunity, believe me. But the jobs really aren't out there. It's not a question of people not wanting to work, not at this point. The state is trying to make more jobs, but it's been slow going. Employers are cutting costs, maximizing profits and using as few people as they can. The major irony here is that many of them actually can actually afford to re-hire some people now but many of them are still choosing not to. That's a nationwide trend from what I understand.

So no, people are not just poor because they deserve to be. Nor are they just "wasting" the handout. Those few extra weeks, it can make a huge difference. For some it might be the difference between being able to wait unemployment out and ending up without a roof.

I don't begrudge taxes going for that. If these people are not going to be hired back into the workforce fairly quickly, and it looks like they are not, then they need all the help they can get.