Jobless in the US: Are they despised?

September 4, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON

As the nation celebrates U.S. workers this Labor Day weekend, many jobless Americans say they sense a growing indifference to their plight, and even a certain level of demonization.

For years, people who lost their jobs were the sad, sympathetic faces of the nation’s economic meltdown. But more than two years after the Great Recession officially ended, America’s empathy for the unemployed is showing signs of wear.

Many companies now shun the long-term unemployed when filling positions, fearing their skills have eroded or their talents don’t measure up.

America’s jobless also face increased hostility from conservative lawmakers, as more states cut the amount and duration of unemployment benefits, while making them harder to get and easier to lose.

In South Carolina, where state-funded jobless benefits were cut from 26 to 20 weeks, Republican state senator Kevin Bryant blogged in April that “part of the unemployment problem is that our human nature is to take advantage of the ability to get paid to not work. ... I’m very sympathetic to those out of work desperately seeking it, but I’m disappointed that we have a significant segment of our society leeching (off) the system.”

Similar comments from a variety of conservatives reflect a sneaking suspicion that 99 weeks of extended benefits have taken the urgency out of job searches.