$650 a week AND health care are the average nationwide. Very few people are covered by these generous union protections. I'm happy you had that opportunity and were able to retire.
Most people on unemployment get far, far less and it is based on what your wages previously were. SUB pay does not even apply to a majority of those unemployed.
COBRA only lasts a max of 18 months, and even if you were lucky enough to get the subsidy, you still have to cough up the other 35% plus co-pays and deductibles if you actually want to use it.
As far as taking lower-paying jobs, the are not enough jobs to take -- not by a long-shot.
Let's do the math. There are 15 million people counted as unemployed right now, with 6.8 million categorized as long-term unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Guess how many jobs were created in the past month in the private sector? 41,000. 41,000.
Factory employment NATIONWIDE has risen by just 126,000 over the past 5 months. Employment in other private-sector industries, including wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality showed little or no
change in May.
The only growth was in the public sector (411,000) to carry out the Census. Those jobs will soon end.
I totally suck at math and even I can figure out that these numbers don't compute.
Kick the people off unemployment and they won't go back to work. THERE ARE NO JOBS!!! So what are these 15 million people supposed to do?
Statistics and more info here:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdfThese are the numbers that the Dems should be shouting from the rooftop.