To Collect Unemployment or Not?

I realize in the entertainment industry, periods of collecting unemployment are the norm. I’ve never thought twice about a friend telling me they were on unemployment. Until the friend became me. Or might become me. I’m still not 100% decided. I’ve always thought of unemployment as a drastic final measure to make sure you’re fed and have a roof over your head. Since I’ve always had my parents place to go back to in between work, I never felt like unemployment was an option for me. I also made more on the cruise ship and has shorter periods on unemployment – 5 to 8 weeks usually. Also, they were flat out called vacation. I never thought of them as unemployment. I had travel plans and sleeping in until noon for a week straight plans and lounging at the beach with my mom plans. Unemployment shouldn’t fund that, right? Even going into this summer, for the most part, I shored up my emergency savings, am still looking for work opportunities, and thought I’d just weather the storm with about $1,500 of my savings. I also felt pretty confident that by hustling my tail off with stuff like eBay, mystery shopping and freelance writing, I can probably cover that, or at least put a serious dent in it. Additionally, I know when I will be going back to work and I suspect that has a large influence on this decision too. Then one of my many co-workers who are all about to go back on unemployment made a point that stuck in my mind – since you’re paying into unemployment, it’s really your own money you’re claiming. I’ve been turning that one over and over in my head for a few days now – only to realize I don’t have the first clue about how unemployment works. It’s true that unemployment is funded through state taxes, so I have been paying into it for years; however, you don’t really see it itemized on your paycheck, it’s just part of the state tax. With the unemployment rate being pretty high over the last few years, the federal government has also bailed out many states, contributing to their unemployment funds – another tax that I’ve been paying for years. I can say without hesitation that if I were living on my own, I would apply in a heartbeat. However, there’s a loud voice in my head saying “hey, you worked hard to build up that emergency fund. You should protect it and make it stretch. This is a smart way to do that.” And that voice is loud. But even I’m surprised it’s not actually the loudest voice in my head. There’s the voice of my parents, who raised me to think things like unemployment were absolute last ditch options. And not to get too preachy, there’s also the voice of Jesus pointing out that others need it more. I totally get the system is so endlessly flawed that the idea of others needing it more is almost invalid, but I tried to commit years ago to concerning myself more with my actions towards people and things than the end result that occurs when relying on others to hold up their end of the bargain too. I don't think when I die, God's gonna be all - oh, yeah, that system was flawed. I can see why you thought you didn't have to help people then.

I think naïve things like I should help people who need money – even if they’re going to use it for drugs and alcohol, because a few really might be using it to feed their kids. So I think for me, until it comes down to not being able to eat or have a place to sleep, things like unemployment are off the table. Which is also the most incredible motivator to get my hustle on. I think another reason I wanted to write a post is because this is my very first brush with this possible need and I understand that life and different situations can make you change your views. Perhaps after a few more years of freelancing and different layoffs - especially when I inevitably wind up at the point where a job is about to end 

without

a clue when I can work again - my tune will change and I think one of the amazing things about blogging is being able to watch the evolution of a person's thought process on some topics.

I want to say I didn’t mean to open a can of worms today, but I totally did. I’m really curious about what all of you think about unemployment – especially in a short term context.

Have you ever claimed unemployment? Have there ever been times you could’ve but decided not to? Did you have an emergency fund while you were on unemployment?