But now Obama wants to change this and allow workers collecting unemployment benefits to attend school and get financial assistance. It makes sense if one cannot find work in his or her field.
Snip:
—The Labor Department will encourage states to update rules during economic downturns so that the unemployed can enroll in community colleges and other education or training programs without giving up their benefits. States generally require people who collect unemployment to be actively looking for work, which can make it difficult to sign up for school or job training. Going to school will satisfy the requirement that they be actively seeking new employment.
—The Education Department will encourage colleges to increase financial aid packages for the unemployed. Colleges can consider an unemployed worker's situation and make them eligible for Pell Grants, which help low-income students afford college, and other aid. An unemployed person could get a Pell Grant and use it to pay for education or job training without giving up unemployment benefits. Beginning in July, the maximum Pell Grant will be boosted by $500, to $5,350.
"Our unemployment insurance system should no longer be a safety net, but a steppingstone to a new future," Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery Friday. "It should offer folks educational opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have" and give them skills they need to "get ahead when the economy comes back."
But of course there need to be jobs after one is retrained. And while this is good for my situation at least, since I don't think I am ever going back into public education after dealing with that crooked district, this country needs to bring the "outsourced" jobs back to this country. There has to be jobs to be available after people are retrained. Unless they go into business for themselves, and even there, if there are vast numbers of people without jobs, the chances are self-employed people will be hurt as well.
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