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Only to the extent that all waged employment is basically slavery (since healthcare is even less critical than food, water and housing).

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Also in the US. In many other countries, you do not only initially get unemployment benefits, but also a form of basic income if the unemployment benefits expire and you haven't found a job, plus rent compensation, etc.

> In many other countries, you do not only initially get unemployment benefits, but also a form of basic income if the unemployment benefits expire and you haven't found a job, plus rent compensation, etc.

It's the same everywhere in the US. Colloquially called "collecting unemployment".

Only if you weren't fired for cause, are looking for full-time employment, have earned enough recently, etc.

Uh, no?

You get unemployment benefits. For a little while. In some places there may also be something like rent compensation, but generally unemployment benefits are supposed to be all-encompassing. (They are nowhere near enough to be all-encompassing.)

Once the unemployment benefits end, you better have a job.

My wife lost her job in the summer of 2020. We were incredibly lucky that the lockdowns meant extended unemployment benefits. They still lasted....I forget exactly, but I believe it was no more than about a year.

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