While watching Keith Olberman's "Countdown" show last evening in which he
featured a segment on a couple who had lost their jobs, I had a thought on
how the unemployment insurance programs might be modified.

The husband had worked in the auto parts industry all his adult life but his
job was eliminated. Despite efforts to find a new, similar job he, like
many, had found that his job was gone, not to return.

He acknowledged finding a new job, requiring him to start over in a new
career and at a low starting wage. He freely admitted that it did not make
sense for him to take the new job because he was better off financially
collecting unemployment benefits. He wants to work, but has to do the best
thing money-wise to keep his house, etc.

Many are in the same boat.

Since many jobs are gone for good and people are going to have to start new
careers with lower pay due to little or no experience, my thought was this:

Rather than continue to extend full unemployment benefits during this
critical economy, structure the unemployment funding as a subsidy to the
new, lower pay scale common to a new job in which one has no experience.
Benefits would be tied to the last year's earnings before being layed off.
The combined new job pay and the subsidized income from the unemployment
fund would equal some percentage (say 75-90 percent) of the previous income.
This benefit would last for a period of 2 years ... sufficient time to
become trained and knowledgeable in the new job.

This would cut the amount of money currently being paid out in unemployment
benefits, provide an incentive for new jobs resulting in lower unemployment.

Note: This is a totally non-partisan idea. No blame cast on the left or
right.