I had this happen to a friend of mine last year. They lost their modest paying job and was unemployed for about 6 months. They were offered a part-time job that would pay less than the benefits, but at least it would get them out of the house and working again and hopefully networking with people to find a new full time job. However, after they spoke with the unemployment office, they were informed that even though they would be making very little money, they would receive next to nothing in unemployment benefits. Just to give you an idea of how crappy this system is, they were getting a little over $250 a week on unemployment, with this part time job they would have been making around $150 a week plus paying taxes, gas, lunch, etc and unemployment would stop. Where is the incentive to find a job?