I live in the part of the country that the article author recommends as a place to go to find work if unemployed. The long-term unemployed persons I know best came out of high school with very limited job skills (barely literate or numerate) and have spent their free time while unemployed mostly pursuing hobbies that do not further develop their job skills. (Some of the saddest cases I know are people who had problems with alcohol or other drug abuse in the early years of their working life.)
Many of those people would indeed be employable in St. Cloud, Minnesota or Mankato, Minnesota in entry-level, manual-labor jobs, but unemployment benefits have, till now, provided enough income to allow living independently without having to go to work each day. I'll see what happens to the people I know best, locally, when the "emergency" extensions of unemployment benefits at long last cease. There are definitely employers in this frigidly cold state that are still on the lookout for willing workers, and I wish well to everyone seeking work. There are probably quite a few opportunities yet available to the people who will look for them.
Many of those people would indeed be employable in St. Cloud, Minnesota or Mankato, Minnesota in entry-level, manual-labor jobs, but unemployment benefits have, till now, provided enough income to allow living independently without having to go to work each day. I'll see what happens to the people I know best, locally, when the "emergency" extensions of unemployment benefits at long last cease. There are definitely employers in this frigidly cold state that are still on the lookout for willing workers, and I wish well to everyone seeking work. There are probably quite a few opportunities yet available to the people who will look for them.