This unemployment check vs. keeping your jobargument seems insane to me. Even if you get a short-term boost in your weekly "paycheck" by being on unemployment benefits (which happens only in somesituations) it doesn't last. Thinking the "free money" is better than a job is extremely short-sighted thinking. You very quickly return to a net loss after benefits end and you have no job at all vs. having the job the entire time.