Sen. Rand Paul
Logic does not seem to be Sen. Rand Paul's friend. Opposing an extension of
emergency unemployment benefits that go beyond 26 weeks, he:
... pointed to a study that showed employers are less likely to hire the long-term unemployed.
"When you allow people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks, you're causing them to become part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy. And it really - while it seems good, it actually does a disservice to the people you're trying to help," Paul said.
There is a circumstance under which this could be a reasonable position. Namely, if receiving unemployment insurance benefits caused people not to look for work. However, the reverse is true. Studies have shown that people receiving unemployment
look for work more, not less. Not only that,
according to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress:
... since Congress enacted federal unemployment benefits, time spent looking for a job has tripled among the long-term unemployed who are out of work as a result of job loss.
It's hard to get work, though, in the face of pervasive employer discrimination against the long-term unemployed, not to mention the fact that
there are nearly three job seekers for every job opening.
So, yes, Sen. Paul. Long term unemployment is bad. But unemployment insurance is not causing it. If you're looking for the real causes, you might look in the mirror, and around the room during a meeting of your fellow congressional Republicans. Because Republicans blocking any meaningful job creation measures—that's really doing a disservice to jobless Americans.