[andyking]

Here's something else from (this part of) Europe: 'bollocks'. For a start, each country has its own rules on unemployment benefits and I've no idea where they pay 80% of your current pay.

Then, at least in Britain, they send you on pretty patronising courses about how to read job adverts, how to go to interviews and so on along with making you go in once a week and give proof that you've been "jobseeking". The job centre'll put you forward for any work going, regardless of whether it's a good match for your skills. If you refuse, no benefits. And for all this, you get the princely sum of £60 a week. Not enough to feed, heat and house yourself, let alone travel the globe.

It's not a free ride by any means, and if you've been through it through no fault of your own it's a pretty demoralising and humiliating system.

[zupatol]

It depends a lot on the country you're in.

In Switzerland, the last time I was unemployed, I got about 80% of my salary, and they would have paid it for two years. You have to 'prove' you are looking for a job, but not getting hired when you have interviews is probably not that difficult. Someone showed me applications from people who obviously didn't want to get hired, they were very colourful and with lots of drawings.

In Belgium I heard you don't even have to prove you're looking, and there's no time limit for staying unemployed.

In France there is the rmi, revenu minimum d'insertion, that gives you money, apparently not even expecting you to find a job. That policy is not as stupid as it sounds, there are serious economists defending it, they call it the negative income tax. It's really not very much money, but I've met plenty of people living from it.

The people who do this are usually not very proud of it and get out of it when they can.

All those systems are being slowly scrapped or made less attractive everywhere. They are leftovers from better times.

[c1sc0]

UK != socialist Europe, I suggest you relocate first, I can only talk about Belgium and I'm fairly sure you can game the system. Many countries do not require these monthly/weekly/whatever checks. 60% - 80% of current pay is pretty standard, but yes: every country has their own rules & after X months you really need to get a job again.

If you're looking for a moral justification, what about this: the baby-boomers set up a social security system that 'conveniently' collapses after they are long dead. The younger generations will not reap the benefits of this system, they will only carry the burden.

So why don't you take some of your tax money back and get a little retirement right now? Or better yet: do something productive outside of the system.

[andyking]

"Socialist Europe"? What on earth are you babbling about? It sounds like a fringe newspaper sold by scruffy types on street corners. Whatever your views, Europe is a capitalist society.

The UK's just as much a part of Europe as Belgium or any other European Union state--in fact, we're one of the few net contributors to the EU. I'm happy here and I'm not planning on going and, erm, sponging off the Belgian welfare state, so I'll respectfully ignore your request that I relocate (!)

I was never taught that going on benefits was a particularly socially acceptable thing to do. I'm glad the system is there for people who are genuinely down on their luck and can't find work, but personally I'd rather take a low-ranking supermarket job than go on jobseekers'. Having something to get up for in the morning makes all the difference, even if it's a rubbish job.