I agree. And unemployment isn't the issue with my age group and younger, college grad crowd. The issue is the fact that, with my last job I had, I ran a crappy little restaurant, my dishwasher had a 4 year degree in english lit, or something like that, one of my servers had a 4 year in psychology, and is now working on her masters, so she continue to be a sever, one of my cashiers had 4 year in business managment, and I myslef have a 4 year degree. NOT in restaurant management. I hire these people because, of all the applications I get (which are a LOT, consistently), if I had to choose, I'll choose the folks that had the brains and determination to finish out their degrees in college, over people largely untested and unverifiable until AFTER hiring. You know? And now I'm outa work, because that place went under, and I've been looking for work for the past 3 months and a week. I have a part time job, at BJ's wholesale club, in the meat dept. But that only supliments unemployment. I need at least 43,000 a year, give or take, in order to really be ok. I need at LEAST 37,000 a year just to keep me and my family in the black. The extra is for college for the kids, retirement, and god forbid I ever want to be able to afford a car should one of mine breaks down. And personally, I consider myself much more fortunate than most.