Unemployed? No, thanks.

Hey friends :)

As you've probably heard, the unemployment rate in the United States is very high relative to what is usual in our nation's history. When last reported in August 2011, it was found that around 9.1 Americans are currently unemployed. For this reason, I was shocked to read an article in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/jobs-bill-backed-by-obama-would-tackle-discrimination-against-unemployed-applicants/2011/10/09/gIQAn0gDXL_story_1.html) describing the hiring practices of large businesses  Apparently, people are being denied the right to have a job potentially, to support their families simply because they are currently unemployed.

Clearly, with 9.1 percent of the country currently unemployed, this pattern is doing nothing to solve the unemployment problem, but rather is making it worse. If we allow large companies to continue to turn away those who are out of work, we as a nation cannot be shocked when we find ourselves faced with another depression as bad or worse than the one we faced in the early 1900s.

That being said, Obama has addressed this problem in his recently proposed jobs bill in which he explicitly prohibits companies from "refusing to consider — or offer a job to — someone who is unemployed. The measure also applies to employment agencies and would prohibit want ads that disqualify applicants just because they are unemployed."
Personally, while I do not agree with everything proposed in this job bill, the thought that someone with previous experience and skills could be turned away simply because they are currently unemployed scares me. Personally, I think the government should step in and should attempt to stop this problem, whether it be by passing the jobs bill or through some other method.