Should Unemployed People Work for Free?

[babylonsister]

http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/091011-should-unemployed-people-work-for-free.html

Should Unemployed People Work for Free?


More than half a million Americans are filing new unemployment claims each week, relying on state benefits to keep them afloat as they spend their days looking for jobs. But in Georgia, thousands of unemployed people are working without a salary in “auditions” for paying gigs.

Under the Georgia Works program, jobless citizens work part-time for up to six weeks at businesses with job openings. They earn no salary, but the state pays unemployment benefits along with a weekly stipend for transportation, child care, and other expenses. And while the businesses involved don’t issue paychecks, they do provide valuable on-the-job training, according to Michael Thurmond, the state’s labor commissioner. So far, some 3000 Georgians (58% of participants) have been hired at the places where they started working for free. Thurmond calls it a “win, win, win” program that has helped the unemployed find work; saved employers nearly $15 million in labor, hiring, and training costs; and saved the state $5.3 million in benefits it would have paid to people who remained unemployed. At least 17 other states have asked about starting similar programs.

Still, there are critics. Andrew Stettner of the National Employment Law Project says that unemployed workers should spend their time looking for the right job. He fears the Georgia program could lead to mandatory unpaid work for the unemployed if it were replicated in other states. “The purpose of unemployment ought to be to enable people to search for suitable work, not to give employers free labor,” he says.

— J. Scott Orr