> I can tell you've never been laid off before, because even with severance it doesn't feel like a "long vacation".
I've been laid off with no severance and it felt like vacation, so it might depends on your specific situation. It was my first job, in Germany, 70% of so of my salary guaranteed as unemployment benefits.
I didn't look for a job for like six months, I could have used the full 12 months as I was more than cash positive and still managed to save 40% of my income without changing my lifestyle, it took me two weeks to find a new one. That being said I'm not a "study for interview" kind of dude, life's too short to grind for that imho
It's capped at about €2000/month, but one thing making up the 30% there is that it's income tax-free, and your health insurance payments are a lot less (since they're income based).
> Isn't it the norm pretty much everywhere in the west ?
In my US state (Ohio), weekly benefits for those without dependents cap out at $530. That's about 19% of my current salary. It would be barely enough to cover my mortgage and utilities, but throw in the car (payment / gas / insurance), groceries, incidentals ... I'd be in trouble. (And unlike some of the forward-thinking individuals who've posted here, I don't have several years' worth of savings to rely on.)
Edit: and if, god forbid, I became disabled ... my government-provided benefits would be something like $150 a week. They may as well give me a kiss on the cheek for all the good that amount would do for me.
I was last laid off in 2015 by a large media company, we received only 1 month of severance. (Which was 1.5 months paychecks because they paid in arrears)
Severance and notice of small scale layoffs (company under 50) has no protection in most states. 8 person company offered no severance, but we had a pretty good sense it was coming a month away.
This is boring flamebait. We all know there are differences in employment contracts between different parts of the world. This comment adds nothing to that discussion but a useless insult.
That doesn't prove anything. Yes, people would rather live in the US than in India, China, or Mexico. In those places the floor is just as bad as the US, but the ceiling is way harder to reach. With a working class salary in the US you can support your entire family in Mexico. That's worth living in a shithole for.
The European immigrants have a plan B. Yes, the US sucks, but they're only here for the money and can go home anytime they want. Don't kid yourself, nobody chooses to live in the US because they think it's better than Europe.
Meh it's a bit more complex than that, once you remove people coming from third world country and people coming for the top 1% jobs you're not left with many people
The US has plenty of flaws but note the US has ~3x the number of EU immigrants than the EU has US immigrants (relative to population of originating countries).
Definitely not. This last couple of years Ohio really fucked a lot of people I know. The state would not respond to claims and their system would automatically close “old” claims. You couldn’t refile or reopen the claim after this happened. The phone system would play a 6 minute message and then hang up.
Taking the state to court for this while also trying to get a job would be difficult.
I've been laid off with no severance and it felt like vacation, so it might depends on your specific situation. It was my first job, in Germany, 70% of so of my salary guaranteed as unemployment benefits.
I didn't look for a job for like six months, I could have used the full 12 months as I was more than cash positive and still managed to save 40% of my income without changing my lifestyle, it took me two weeks to find a new one. That being said I'm not a "study for interview" kind of dude, life's too short to grind for that imho