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Comment by Aaargh20318 | Hacker News Reader

Aaargh20318

> How are you expecting to find a job when you don't apply?

How are you going to apply to a job if there aren't any to apply to ?

If your goal is a job, there is one. It might pay minimum wage but it's there. I'm a high school drop out from two drug addicted parents that both currently live with their parents. Last time I earned minimum wage I was 15, I got a job in a kitchen washing dishes and worked my way up to sous chef over 8 years and as many restaurants. Then I taught myself some networking and PC troubleshooting and got a job in IT, then another. Now I'm working on a portfolio together and I'm going to take a stab at becoming a web developer. It is exceedingly rare in a relatively populated area that there are 'no jobs', just ones you'd prefer not to do.

That really depends on the market location doesn't it? I've moved states to find jobs in the past.

So have I, but even then, I expanded my search radius in discrete steps:

  - 0-30 minute commute and remote for stable companies
  - 30-60 minute commute and remote for promising start-ups
  - less than 2 hour commute and remote for anybody
  - moving to a previously white-listed US metropolitan area
  - moving anywhere at all within the continental US
  - freelancing gigs
  - live on the government dole
  - emigrate to a Commonwealth country
  - emigrate to another Anglophone country
  - emigrate to a completely foreign culture
  - turn to a life of white-collar crime
  - "out, damned spot"
  - wage bloody revolution against the corporation whores
  - sell humanity out to the lizard people

So far, I haven't ever had to progress past step 5. I'd be a little worried about folks stuck on step 7, as that's just before the slippery slope starts.

Why would you prefer to live on government welfare instead of moving to another country?

I can see people not wanting to if they are "settled" in an area - either by property or family - but I would think doing something productive in another country would be better than doing nothing.

I wouldn't be "doing nothing". The dole isn't always about sitting on ass and cashing checks. It's just that the things I would be doing would probably not be sufficiently remunerative to maintain a lifestyle that includes clean beds and showers.

{S}He probably had to pay rent and or eat, or go to the doctor, or pay for internet to send out job applications. We don't stop being expensive because we are not working.

The standard of living/quality of live for the poor in the USA is better than being poor in other countries. People on the dole often have nicer shoes and accessories than I do (talk about financial priorities out of whack, but I digress)! Depending on the situation you're better off on the dole than working a low-wage job. However, In other countries being poor means no welfare, no shoes, no plumbing, no food, and no Louis Vuitton purses.

There's always jobs. For one, until the entire United States is a bulging mass of skyscrapers and hydroponics towers, there's always something you could buy, develop, and flip or hold.

This is true on an individual level, but I'm really wary about the sleight of hand where personal advice is used as a cure for societal problems.

Sure, your unemployed nephew could hustle hard enough to find a decent job, but that's not true for everyone's unemployed nephew all at once. Criticizing people for not finding jobs or starting companies doesn't fix structural issues - it's not going to solve Spain's 25% unemployment.

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