Unemployment benefit programs were created to help people who have lost jobs due to no fault of their own, and to help them for a short time until they could get other work. Many hard-working people still use it that way, but others see it as an entitlement program, where, for six months, they don't have to work.
In south Mississippi, this has created the paradox of high unemployment rates while thousands of new, well-paying jobs are now available. It also intensifies the immigration issue. Since we're paying citizens not to work, immigrants, many of them illegal, fill those jobs. Making matters worse, Congress extended eligibility for unemployment assistance for three additional months.
Our state Department of Employment Security is also making harmful decisions if a letter I saw is any indication of their mindset. This letter says that a former employee of a company in south Mississippi qualifies for an unemployment check, even though he has refused work offered to him by his former employer.
It's time for politicians and bureaucrats to think about the impact of their actions in the real world.