According to an article from Wisconsin Public Radio that was published
today,
Gov. Scott Walker says he's looking at whether people on unemployment compensation are trying hard enough to make a quick return to the workplace.
Words cannot describe the amount of anger and disdain I have for Governor Walker right now. My friend Dean had been unemployed since February and had received rejection letter after rejection letter. The only reason he is employed now (he started this week at my workplace) is because of a fluke that opened up a job...otherwise there would have been no opening for me to recommend him for.
Walker met with business executives in Milwaukee at one of the governor's new by-invitation-only jobs forums:
Several executives told Walker that they have job openings, but contend some people who are out of work would rather take unemployment comp for as long as they can, rather than get hired. Walker says he supported the recent extension of unemployment benefits, but wants to see if people who get the aid are meeting enough of the requirements of the compensation program.
First off, this is invitation only, so the only people invited are more than likely campaign contributors, and as such it would make sense that they were pre-screened so that they would only make statements that the governor would agree with. Of course no one mentioned what wages these jobs paid. No one mentioned the hours. From what I have seen for job availability in Wisconsin, most of the open positions do not pay enough to allow you to go back to work and pay for luxuries like food and child care.
This just shows how out of touch Governor Walker and the Republican party really is...instead of talking to real people who have been struggling to find a job he talks to people who do not pay a living wage and then they wonder why no one wants these jobs. Maybe you need to pay a decent wage! People cannot live on minimum wage!
Scott Page, a laid-off factory worker from Kenosha, says, "[I]t's a slap in the face to hear employers say they can't find enough people to fill jobs, and then blame the unemployment compensation system."
Unemployment checks are not the problem. It is greedy "Job Creators" that are the problem.