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79 Comments
- capyoda, on 05/20/2009, -0/+56Pro: Spending all day reading stuff on Digg.
Con: Spending all day reading stuff on Digg. - Narcism, on 05/20/2009, -0/+27What a great idea. I should quit my job, and pursue my dream, writing articles about the Pros and Cons of Unemployment so I can make $4 in adsense revenue.
- Misinformant, on 05/20/2009, -1/+21I'M ON THE BUSINESS END OF EVERY CON. GIVE ME A GODDAMN JOB.
- WhiskeyLemur, on 06/30/2009, -0/+18Pros: can sleep in late
Cons: miss having a house and regular meals - rdldr1, on 05/20/2009, -0/+15When you are not making money, you are spending money.
Heck, you are spending money even when you are making money.
How the hell is being unemployed a PRO, especially in a recession? Welfare? Food stamps? Taking charity donations?
What a garbage of an article. I bet the millions who lost their jobs in this recession would give a ***** about the pros of being unemployed. - Bloodwine, on 05/20/2009, -2/+12Pro: more alone time to masturbate while your spouse is at work
- strum40, on 05/20/2009, -0/+10One bad thing is more people will go to college thus making a degree worth even less than it is now.
- MalarkeyPN, on 05/20/2009, -0/+9What? I have a job and I still spend all day reading stuff on Digg.
- TobiasParker, on 05/20/2009, -1/+9I quit my job yesterday, i will let you know how it goes. :-)
- airwalke, on 05/20/2009, -0/+7Let's not forget who got the ball rolling...
- onimusha115, on 05/20/2009, -1/+8I get the best of both worlds I guess. To deal with the slowdown in business and to prevent layoffs my employer has just decided to do a 4 day work week. We work 32 hours and are able to collect partial unemployment for the 5 day, which is all handled by the company, we just get mailed the checks. In the end its not so bad, 3 day weekends every week, and between my 32 hours and my partial unemployment I've only seen a small drop in my income. The great thing is that I get to keep my health benefits during all this. I hope more employers follow suit, it really does seem to be the best for everyone.
- KimmyGibbler, on 05/20/2009, -0/+7If you're unemployed, you aren't working for anyone, not even yourself. Not everyone has the luxury of living in mommy's basement when they are 32 and eating the Hotpockets that she buys with her money
- peaceninja, on 05/20/2009, -0/+7I was under a lot of stress before I quit my job in January. I did everything by the book while I was at my job: contributed a ton of my income to my 401(k), paid all my bills and taxes on time, I sought help when I was depressed and was prescribed Paxil.
But none of that made me truly happy. I quit my job, I eliminated a lot of my bills, started freelancing and cut down on my taxable income, smoke pot once or twice a month instead of taking Paxil each day. Leaving my job was the best decision of my life, I lost a lot of weight and have been in the best shape I ever have been. Good luck to all of you who are sitting at a depressing job. You can get yourself out of it, I promise. - edcrosay, on 05/20/2009, -0/+6It sucks on an individual level, because it creates more competition for jobs and it becomes harder to distinguish yourself from others. But as a whole, an educated nation is much better for long term economic growth and stability.
- sleestakslayer, on 05/20/2009, -0/+6Now I can finally explore the benefits of heroin.
- inactive, on 05/20/2009, -0/+6If’ you’ve paid enough into it, unemployment benefits can be quite satisfactory. It’s usually enough to live on, and you don’t have to do anything to receive it. To make matters better, due to the recent Economic Stimulus, the first $2,400 in benefits is tax free. In this sense, individuals collecting unemployment can fare better than members of the workforce, and they get to wear sweat pants while doing it.
In Texas ( http://www.twc.state.tx.us/ui/bnfts/claimant1.html ) max unemployment is $392 a week. White it is slightly better than minimum wage at 40hrs/week. If I were to be laid off, I would take about a $1000/week drop in salary. Not sure how that makes me fare better than members of the workforce. - hiPpymIck, on 05/20/2009, -0/+6saw this
Why Now’s a Great Time to Stop Being an Employee (If You Can*)
http://smarterware.org/521/why-nows-a-great-time-t ... - TheStrangeBrew, on 05/20/2009, -0/+6Con: having to masturbate even if your spouse lost their job too...
- Taiyoryu, on 05/20/2009, -0/+6"...and you don’t have to do anything to receive it"
That's BS. Obviously the guy isn't unemployed or ever has been. Anyone who's ever had to collect benefits would know that in order to receive benefits you have to actively search for employment. If the state ever decides to audit you, you have to provide a record of your employment applications with follow-up references that the state can contact. Furthermore, you have to qualify for unemployment benefits which often means you have to be laid off, not voluntarily quit.
Also for those who are ignorant of the way unemployment works, like this guy. Unemployment is a state-managed insurance system paid by your _employer_ not the employee. It's part of the overhead that goes along with hiring someone which often includes, health insurance, employment taxes, unemployment insurance, etc. The benefits package employees get that is not direct compensation.
Also, the UI benefits are a fraction of your original income which depending on your living situation may or may not be enough. For example, those with a mortgage, there's often very little leftover for all the other expenses like food and utilities. So unless you have some sort of savings to tap into, the more liquid the better, unemployment benefits will not sustain a person indefinitely. Finally, there is a maximum payout which is typically 12-months worth.
So don't think it's a free ride. - Kumah, on 05/20/2009, -0/+5so basically...
Pros: You now have the free time to do whatever you want! :D
Cons: You can't do anything because you have no money. :< - TwistyMcFister, on 05/20/2009, -1/+6I am employed, wife in unemployed. It works for now. we just shrank our spending budget by 15%. It's rough but we really take a good look at money were are wasting. It's different for everyone.
- coadyj, on 05/20/2009, -0/+5Very well said, it's like do you want to focus on life or career, although, I will say if you can afford to be unemployed there is no greater satisfation in doing nothing all the time. But it gets to a time where enough is enough
- rebrad, on 05/20/2009, -0/+5Wow, some new additions to the New Speak Dictionary.
- Rivetgeek, on 05/20/2009, -0/+5But I bet your WoW level is pretty awesome huh? huh?
- Rivetgeek, on 05/20/2009, -0/+4Never filing taxes is a great way to get audited. As soon as you buy any major expense
- DankBuddz, on 05/20/2009, -0/+4Good point, me too.
- hokie47, on 05/20/2009, -1/+5Don't be a ***** freeloader. If you can work then ***** work. I almost hit this women who said that she wanted to be laid off so she can collect unemployment and do nothing. I went to the day labor place to work before I found a good job. Granted it was only a week, but I took responsibility. The others there were like who is this white guy with an advance degree doing manual labor. Work hard and smart everyday and good things will happen.
- TheNyquilKid, on 05/21/2009, -0/+4Might have better luck if you turn that caps lock off when typing cover letters.
- BrokenCircle, on 05/20/2009, -0/+4Pro: Time to plot your suicide or bank heist
Con: No funds to carry out your elaborate suicide or bank heist. - Rivetgeek, on 05/20/2009, -1/+5Have fun with your audit kiddo.
- sgvprelude, on 05/20/2009, -1/+5Pro: Watch porn all day
Con: Can't afford to pay the electric bill to power the computer and tv. - publiclurker, on 05/20/2009, -0/+4But he killed a bunch of them thar foreigners in order to do God's will and create the second coming. That's obviously worth destroying the country for, as opposed to repairing the damage.
/s - kaelyiesta, on 05/20/2009, -0/+3To be fair, she was probably forced to pay into the unemployment scheme in the first place. I myself would love to get that money back, along with all the other money the government took from me 'for my own good'.
- mstubz, on 05/20/2009, -0/+3If you can afford to be unemployed then you should also use that time to help others. I'm trying to balance these PROs and CONs right now. It's just too risky to quit a job with very few prospects if things don't work out. One issue is that I do freelance work and you can't really collect unemployment if your still making some kind of money.
- TobiasParker, on 05/20/2009, -0/+3GE left Schenectady 20 years ago for all intents and purposes. Skilled labor in this town is nonexistent, you work in Albany for the State or you work for yourself. I could not even describe the number of dentist offices, accountants, chiropractors, etc... within a 5 mile radius of my house. I have been thinking about going into the Airforce myself, i do not have many needs at this point so i will be looking for something to pay the rent and then seeing what my education/career options are.
- immatellyouwhat, on 05/20/2009, -0/+3lol (laughing quietly in office) me too, can you say best job ever?
- immatellyouwhat, on 05/20/2009, -0/+3I've been on Digg too much because this is the exact comment I was thinking would be on here.
- 83JB, on 05/20/2009, -0/+3what company/job would that be?!? are they hiring?!?
- TheNyquilKid, on 05/21/2009, -0/+3Wow, even this tool got a product placement deal.
- WhiskeyLemur, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3Cash transactions are notoriously difficult to audit. Plus, the chances of being audited are minuscule anyway, and if you stay "under the radar" and don't have financial activity which will set off red flags with the IRS, your chances of being audited are negligible.
Now, if you want to only work for cash while buying a house and a car - that's another story. - ultraseamus, on 05/20/2009, -0/+3So, the pros really only apply if you can get by without the income from a job, and the cons apply if you actually do need that money. It was an interesting read, but the article can pretty much be summed up as: if you do not need the extra money, not working can be nice.
- darkciti2, on 05/20/2009, -0/+2Not surprisingly, productivity actually increases during mass layoffs (really).
- TherealObadiah, on 05/20/2009, -2/+4In my view, it's one thing to "get the ball rolling" and quite another thing to smash the ball with a Calloway Big Bertha driver like Obama has. Obama has spent more than all US Presidents combined! We are in deep weeds. It may take a decade or more to get these jobs back, if Obama doesn't take us to a depression first.
Politics aside Obama is killing this economy and the policies he's ramming through with Pelosi are going to have long lasting toxic effects. - Elranzer, on 05/21/2009, -0/+2Drinking requires an income, though.
- darkciti2, on 05/20/2009, -0/+2"The harder I work, the luckier I get".
-Samuel Goldwyn - BDOUG, on 05/20/2009, -0/+2Excellent post Taiyoryu. I was thinking something very similar when I read that brainless comment about UI, but you posted a far better retort than I could have.
Lythium: yes, if one spouse gets laid off and the other is still employed, the laid-off person is still generally illegible for benefits (at least in my state it works this way). I don't know about the amount of benefits, that's usually based on some calculation with multiple inputs anyway. - WhiskeyLemur, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2Since you clearly know more about this than I do - what happens if one spouse loses a job but the other one is still employed full-time? Dues the unemployed spouse still qualify for unemployment, and is the weekly pay dependent on the salary of the working spouse?
(Ye gods, I wish it were an idle question... heh) - bigtoes, on 05/20/2009, -0/+2Its a great buzz but it is rough on your teeth . You can expect to pay thousands in dental bills . On a positive note it is out of your system quickly .
- DankBuddz, on 05/20/2009, -0/+1I actually work full time in engineering, and I have a family.
Its also obvious that I'm more mature since I don't resort to personal attacks to get a point across. That would be called ad hominem, in case you weren't familiar.
Good try pissing me off though fatty, it was a valiant (but pathetic) effort. - protoopus, on 05/20/2009, -0/+1agreed.
i was offered early retirement and took it.
i walk between two and four miles almost every day, i've been cooking for myself, and my blood pressure is in the normal range for the first time in almost 20 years. also i seem to have lost interest in alcohol.
my pension is roughly the same as the texas unemployment mentioned above. -
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