Unemployment: Not Working

Here's new proof.

Reason:

The survey, which spent two years tracking 675 people who lost their jobs in the Great Recession, found that 62 percent of unemployed respondents who did not receive unemployment benefits thought they were financially worse off, versus 76 percent of those who did receive benefits. Similarly, among those who were able to find jobs after their initial unemployment, only 32 percent of those who didn't receive benefits saw themselves in a worse financial place, versus 50 percent of those who did receive benefits.

[...]Those who did not receive UI [Unemployment Insurance] were more likely to obtain a job within less than a year. Among those who had exhausted their unemployment benefits before getting another, most took more than a year.

Among the reemployed, just over half took a cut in pay. UI recipients were twice as likely to experience lower pay as those who did not receive UI benefits (59 percent versus 32 percent) And 64 percent of exhaustees said they were forced to take a pay cut in order to find new full-time employment.

This, of course, comes after Obama's own economic advisor, Larry Summers, says that unemployment insurance increases the unemployment rate.  (I believe he said about 1% before.)

Additionally:

Economists disagree on how much jobless assistance aggravates the problem it is supposed to ameliorate. But a study this year by the liberal Brookings Institution estimated that without the additional benefits, the unemployment rate would be at least 0.7 percentage points lower than it is—the equivalent of a million jobs.

But here's the biggest kicker. Unemployment insurance was being offered privately before the government got involved.

Downsizinggovernment:

Numerous U.S. labor unions, such as the Cigarmakers' International, already offered their own out-of-work benefits, as did most British labor unions before that country's government system was enacted.4 In 1910, nearly 30 percent of total union expenditures in Britain went toward out-of-work benefits.5 Some U.S. manufacturing companies offered unemployment benefits, and there were a number of plans offered jointly by businesses and unions, such as those in the clothing and garment industries. There was also growing interest among private insurance companies to introduce unemployment plans to the general public.

[...]The Great Depression greatly changed the political environment. With unemployment reaching high levels, federal policymakers began creating programs to lessen the economic hardships.