Unemployment Benefits
Title: Unemployment Benefits Only Good for a Limited Amount of Time
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that extending unemployment benefits strains an already overused and failing government program.
Central Idea: Today, I would like to tell you about the problem of extending unemployment benefits, as well as offer some possible solutions that our lawmakers should adopt instead of another extension.
Introduction
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and have joined the growing ranks of the unemployed recently as the recent recession gripped the U.S. In fact, nearly one out of ten Americans are now unemployed and seeking a new job. I'm sure that most of you know someone who has been affected by the recession either by having his hours cut at work, or losing her job entirely. As the recession continues and even more jobs are being lost, our country and its lawmakers have struggled trying to find ways to help those who have lost their jobs by extending unemployment benefits once already, and they are discussing extending them even further. Unfortunately, despite their best intentions, these extensions can actually serve to prolong periods of unemployment by some, and also tax an already misused and failing government program; fortunately, there are other options that do work.
Body I. The problem with extending unemployment benefits is actually three part: it encourages unemployed people to accept a new job later rather than sooner, it encourages misuse of the system, and it stresses an already over-stressed and failing program. A. Extending unemployment benefits has been shown to delay the amount of time that passes before a person accepts a new position. 1. Studies have shown that “a large fraction of unemployed people suddenly started working again within a week or so of their exhaustion date, despite having been without work for so many weeks prior: evidence that the benefits themselves were sustaining unemployment”
Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience that extending unemployment benefits strains an already overused and failing government program.
Central Idea: Today, I would like to tell you about the problem of extending unemployment benefits, as well as offer some possible solutions that our lawmakers should adopt instead of another extension.
Introduction
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and have joined the growing ranks of the unemployed recently as the recent recession gripped the U.S. In fact, nearly one out of ten Americans are now unemployed and seeking a new job. I'm sure that most of you know someone who has been affected by the recession either by having his hours cut at work, or losing her job entirely. As the recession continues and even more jobs are being lost, our country and its lawmakers have struggled trying to find ways to help those who have lost their jobs by extending unemployment benefits once already, and they are discussing extending them even further. Unfortunately, despite their best intentions, these extensions can actually serve to prolong periods of unemployment by some, and also tax an already misused and failing government program; fortunately, there are other options that do work.
Body I. The problem with extending unemployment benefits is actually three part: it encourages unemployed people to accept a new job later rather than sooner, it encourages misuse of the system, and it stresses an already over-stressed and failing program. A. Extending unemployment benefits has been shown to delay the amount of time that passes before a person accepts a new position. 1. Studies have shown that “a large fraction of unemployed people suddenly started working again within a week or so of their exhaustion date, despite having been without work for so many weeks prior: evidence that the benefits themselves were sustaining unemployment”
Cited: “CRIME: Unemployment abuse brings fraud arrests.” 2 Apr 2010. Tonawanda News. 26 Nov. 2011. <http://tonawanda-news.com/local/x681747549/CRIME-Unemployment-abuse-brings-fraud-arrests>. Hill, Marianne. "Unemployment Insurance: a Broken System." Dollars & Sense Sept.-Oct. 2009: 11+. Mercier, Jason. “Unemployment Insurance Desperate for Reform.” 18 Aug 2003. <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,94961,00.html >. Mulligan, Casey. “Do Jobless Benefits Discourage People From Finding Jobs.” 17 Mar. 2010. Today’s Economist. 26 Nov 2011. <http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/do-jobless-benefits-discourage-people-from-finding-jobs/>. “Research Commentary Extension on Unemployment Fund a Bad Idea.” 2 Apr 2010. <http://www.heartland.org/article/25470/Research_Commentary_Extension_of_Unemployment_Fund_a_Bad_Ide a.html>. Whoriskey, Peter. “States’ Jobless Funds Are Being Drained In Recession.” 22 Dec 2009. Washington Post. 26 Nov 2011. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/21/AR2009122103269.html?hpid=topnews>.