Nobody is really "unemployed." Unemployment benefits are taxed as income. That makes you "self-employed" anyway I'm not sure I follow you. Being employed is tr

Nobody is really "unemployed." Unemployment benefits are taxed as income. That makes you "self-employed" anyway I'm not sure I follow you. Being employed is trading your labour for income; if you are collecting unemployment benefit you are not trading any labour. That doesn't mean that you are not working but you are definitely not employed. Cf. a stay-at-home parent may work their butt off but is not employed in the normal meaning of the word.