MOOCHER WATCH!

From Eric Dondero:

Some evidence of what many of us on the Libertarian Right have suspected all along: Extended Unemployment Benefits leads to reluctance to seek Employment.

From the Detroit News:

In a state with the nation's highest jobless rate, landscaping companies are finding some job applicants are rejecting work offers so they can continue collecting unemployment benefits.

It is unclear whether this trend is affecting other seasonal industries. But the fact that some seasonal landscaping workers choose to stay home and collect a check from the state, rather than work outside for a full week and spend money for gas, taxes and other expenses, raises questions about whether extended unemployment benefits give the jobless an incentive to avoid work.

Members of the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association "have told me that they have a lot of people applying but that when they actually talk to them, it turns out that they're on unemployment and not looking for work," said Amy Frankmann, the group's executive director. "It is starting to make things difficult."

Another example cited:

B&L Landscaping in Oak Park finds the labor pool is noticeably weaker and less motivated, director Richard Angell said, even though the company still gets 80 to 100 applicants per week.

"We're just getting people coming in, filling out paperwork, hoping they won't get hired," Angell said. "... We're having a hard time finding quality applicants."

The current unemployment rate in the State is 14.1%, highest in the Nation.

BlogProf (Michigan blog) offers this startling analysis:

The average landscape worker earns about $12 per hour in Michigan equating to about $480 per week. However, taking out taxes, the net isn't different from the collecting an unemployment check for doing nothing at all. Thus the incentive for funemployment. Why bust your butt 40 hours per week in a physically exerting job when you can collect almost the same for 26 weeks from the state and another 73 weeks from the federal government? That's 99 weeks of getting a check for not working.

Of course, if Taxes on lower-end employment were completely eliminated, and the length of the unemployment benefits cut dramatically, these individuals would have all the incentive in the world to take an honest day's job.