The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of UnemploymentWith our nation’s economy the way it is right now, the unemployment rate in the United States has skyrocketed over the recent years. In an effort to keep businesses afloat, business owners are being forced to downsize their staff load, causing so many people to suddenly be out of a job. Larger businesses usually tend to be able to manage with fewer employees, but smaller businesses, or Mom and Pop shops are being forced to close their businesses due to the faltering economy, placing every employee, even the owners, without a source of income. The trouble with this is that if the rate of those not working continues to rise, the benefits for the unemployed are going to dry up, leaving hundreds of thousands of people jobless and penniless. Right now it is difficult to find any jobs available out there, so if you currently have a job, even if you don’t like it, do yourself a favor and stick with it because joining the ranks of the unemployed is a line you do not want to be in with our nation in the current financial crisis it is in at the moment. As the saying goes, “desperate times call for desperate measures” and that saying could not be truer in today’s times. Do not feel that any job is beneath you. So you have to go and work in a fast food restaurant in order to keep your home. Who cares? A paycheck is a paycheck and you should feel lucky enough to be one of the few who receives one. No one will judge you for the decisions you make. In fact, most people will find it honorable that you are willing to do whatever possible to make sure that you do not lose your home and that there is food on the table to feed your family. If your former company had been paying into Social Security on your behalf, you will be eligible to receive unemployment for a predetermined amount of time, based on how long you were at your former place of employment. Once you are let go of your job, you need to make an appointment to discuss your benefits. Your benefits liaison will give you a large amount of information regarding how much you will be receiving and the “rules” that go along with it. Yes, there are rules…and strict ones at that. In years past, you were able to request benefits, be lazy for 6 months to a year and then decide to go back once your benefits were used up. Today, you are forced to go to training to learn specific trades if you are unable to find a job. You are also forced to search (and prove) that you made every effort possible to find a job every week, otherwise your benefits will be cut off. |