Comments on: Putting the Unemployed to Work

By: Keith Morris

Keith Morris — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:48:29 +0000

Definitely lots of challenges to doing what you propose, but I agree with the sentiment. Volunteering is great for all the reasons you wrote about. My wife was unemployed for a full year. During that time, while she was looking for a job, she volunteered to teach religious education at our church. When she was called in for an interview, they noticed the lack of work and asked her what she had been doing for the last year. It certainly helped her to show that she had been practicing her profession.

By: Buffet gains, Brazil overheating and unemployment

Buffet gains, Brazil overheating and unemployment — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:05:47 +0000

[...] The Weakonomics writes about putting the unemployed to work. [...]

By: Misty Jane

Misty Jane — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:54:27 +0000

Volunteering is wonderful. Organizations are always asking for volunteers. But have you ever tried to make contact with an organization that says it needs volunteers? I have friends who’d love to volunteer at various organizations, but after leaving voicemail after voicemail, or email after email, they’ve given up because no one ever calls back. Does anyone know why organizations ask for volunteers yet won’t call those expressing interest?

By: Revanche

Revanche — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:32:38 +0000

From a purely paperwork standpoint – at least in CA – there’s a huge roadblock thrown up to prevent you from volunteering and being honest about it. They ask you if there was any reason you could not have accepted work any day during the week you’re applying for UI. If you’ve made a commitment to volunteering, the honest answer would be yes, you couldn’t have worked on the day you were volunteering even though you would have been willing to burn a bridge (or not, I’m sure orgs would understand that you’d have to leave to take a paying job).

If they made volunteering an acceptable occupation during periods of UI without punishing people for doing so, it’d be great but I suspect it’s not worth their time and trouble. Inundated as the agency is, they’d rather easily verify that you could or couldn’t have worked and pay or not pay based on that without having to take into account your volunteer activities and whether or not someone is avoiding finding paid work through volunteering.

By: Monevator

Monevator — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:51:56 +0000

I share some of your concerns, and your motivations. The one time in my life I almost collected an unemployment cheque (right after graduation) I couldn’t do it. The people had done enough for me, putting me through University at a time it was still free for students in the UK – I had to find something, *anything*, to do, which I did.

So I like the idea of volunteering to give those who don’t have the option of being choosy something useful to do, which may give them some pride, as well as the rest of society better roads or tidier parks.

But have you considered the problem of crowding out? If the unemployed are repairing the roads or cutting lawns, then suddenly the minimum wage guy who was using it as a first step somewhere better, isn’t.

I know — looking about almost any city on Earth there seems to be something someone could fix without treading on another’s toes. But I suspect it may be more subtle, unfortunately.
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By: Philip Brewer

Philip Brewer — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:50:42 +0000

I’m strongly behind any program that makes work available to people who’re having trouble finding it. But I know from experience that it’s much harder to find people useful work than it is to cut them a check. In particular, your statement, “Anything a normal volunteer can do an unemployed person can do too,” is just wrong: There are plenty of things that a normal volunteer can do that a random unemployed person can’t, starting with articulating some version of the non-profit’s goals and vision.

Back in the 1970s there was a government program called CETA that tried to do exactly what you’re describing. They made a huge effort to solve the problems that you’ve acknowledged—they did the hiring and provided transportation and management. All the non-profit was supposed to need to do was assign work. And yet, the workers provided were just barely better than nothing, and not always that. (I’ve written about my experience with CETA workers in my article Find Work Worth Doing.)

I’m with you, but it’s harder than you imagine. If you haven’t tried to do it yourself, it’s probably harder than you can imagine.
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