Quote Originally Posted by quickdodge®
For those of you who say that they fell that they've been leeching off the government....wrong! I would jump on unemployment in a second the second I lost my job. I wouldn't live off it, but I would get on it. You don't know how long it will take you to get back employed. Every day you've worked and paid taxes, you've help contribute to unemployment. There's no sense in NOT getting back what you've put in. There is NO shame in reaping what you sowed in this instance. I've worked for over 20 years now so I know I've out in my time and money.

So yes, I'd try to draw. But no, I would NOT attempt to live off of unemployment. I'd still be on the grind looking. Later, QD.


I worked in real estate & was laid off as soon as the economy started taking a shit. I drew unemployment & after taxes being taken out, I saw $269/week. That was enough to pay my daughter's daycare & buy food (& yes, it was necessary to keep her in daycare or she would have lost her spot & I wouldn't have been able to go out & search for a job). It took me a month to find a new job & I took a hell of a pay cut...I now make HALF what I made at my previous job! But I'm getting by so I can't complain.

Like somebody else already said...WalMart & McDonalds aren't a possibility if you're laid off from a decent paying career...you're better off taking unemployment & continuing your job search rather than taking a job at WalMart or McDonalds making $8/hr x 40 hrs/week = $320/week before taxes. I considered it, but it would have been stupid for me to work 40 hour weeks, unable to go on interviews because I'm flipping burgers only to make the same or less than I was getting from unemployment.