Quite often, when we discuss issues related to unemployment

Quite often, when we discuss issues related to unemployment, the quickie answer you get is, "well, if you didn't just give people unemployment insurance, they'd get back to work!" Now, for one thing, unemployment insurance is something you only receive if you've paid into the system (that's why it's counted as a transfer payment, as is Social Security) so it's an earned, paid-for benefit- same as you'd receive if you were in a car accident and your insurance paid out; you'd only get that if you paid for insurance. The other thing that's interesting is that data on Scandinavian economies has shown that while more generous unemployment payouts is positively correlated with longer periods of unemployment, the result tends to be new salaries at, or in many cases above, the original salary- having more time to look gives people time to find better jobs, leading to increases in net GDP.