But when you have those obligations is being unemployed REALLY better than having a crappy job? Waiting in a dole line, living on the edge, and not being able to support a family just because being unemployed is better than a bad job? I think the reality is that many people can't make these sorts of decisions - many people have to take jobs because they have obligations. And to simply not take a job because it's better to be unemployed while supporting a family doesn't make sense.
Agreed. All that is harder to bear than hunger. To give up a job, willing to go on the dole instead, is selfish. Some folks have morals that won't permit taking a handout when you are able-bodied and the job is there.
As a programmer/architect and sometimes-startup-founder, I have always been in a position to be unemployed for a year or two at a time without any money problems. Not everyone has that buffer.
