"What do the unemployed do all day?
At a time of record-level long-term unemployment, the question matters -- and not just for the jobless themselves. For one thing, if the unemployed aren't seen as using their time productively, it's harder to maintain political support for jobless benefits, which some have argued lately are too costly. For another, we can't accurately assess the damage done to the economy by having so many people out of work unless we know what else they're doing.
. . .
Folbre adds: "That's why involuntary unemployment represents such a waste of human capabilities and loss of productive output for the economy as a whole." That's true, it appears, however the jobless spend their time."
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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/jobless-more-sleep-tv-more-unpaid-170225258.html>
Well, there you are. Having been unemployed for over a year, and now being underemployed(I'm substitute teaching) I found that yes, I stayed up a bit later, and generally took a nap in the middle of the day. But I also worked around my farm(my wife says it is looking the best it ever has), read, wrote, helped my elderly parents, etc.
Having been long term unemployed before(thank you Ronald Reagan), I didn't get depressed. I realized that this wasn't my fault that I wasn't employed. Still, wrestling with the boredom, the embarrassment, etc. was a pain at first.
Perhaps this is the future for a lot of us, doing the unpaid, but important work.
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