That is a meaningless distinction.
Employees get benefit from insurance that they themselves do not purchase... therefore they have no stake in how it is used or abused. There is a big distinction.
It is based on how much you earn, it simply happens to be capped.
That's a very low cap that includes about anyone called an employee, from part time to full time to seasonal to CEO.
You pay for it depending on your salary...
Again... YOU do not pay for it. And... it is based on the first $7000 you make. If you make $10k, $50k, or $250k... it's the same amount. Why should a person not pay more into it (themselves) to guarantee a greater payout should the so-called "disaster" of unemployment happen. Why not purchase it individually like home insurance? Because then the employee would REALLY have to find a job instead of milking the payout while watching Oprah. Sorry... Ive seen this scenario many times.
Get over it... it's a handout as it stands.
There are union companies that abuse it and get more out of it for their employees by "laying them off" for a week for training. The contribution percent for companies is capped too. These companies operate at the cap and abuse the system for the benefit of their employees. This is to the detriment of companies that have a good layoff history and end up paying more into the system to benefit others.
Sorry... I write the checks on this... it's a horrible system.