Are you saying that if welfare benefits were reduced we'd have a lower unemployment rate? That a significant number of the currently unemployed have decided to

Are you saying that if welfare benefits were reduced we'd have a lower unemployment rate? That a significant number of the currently unemployed have decided to remain unemployed because welfare is good enough? That's certainly an effect to consider, but I really wonder whether it's actually significant in the US - welfare in the US is not particularly generous compared to a lot of developed countries, and I don't know that so many people really would find it a good enough alternative to working that I can believe they're really turning down reasonable jobs in favor of being on the dole. If this was, say, Ireland, where the government will literally put you up in a house and give you spending money if you don't have a job, I'd say it was reasonable to blame that for a lot of the unemployment problems, but here, I just don't see it - the unemployment rates have been pretty closely aligned with the economy as a whole, which makes me think it's the availability of work that's the issue, not the willingness to take it on.