Over at Foreign Policy, Annie Lowrey tallies up the best places in the world to be unemployed. In Scandinavia, for instance, you get 80-90 percent of your income for a period ranging -- depending on circumstance -- from 10 months to four years. Japan gives you 50 to 80 percent of your income for about a year. France gives you 57 to 75 percent of your income for about three years. What Annie doesn't mention is the place where you really don't want to be unemployed: The United States. Here, most of the unemployed don't qualify for unemployment insurance, and those who do can expect $216.17 a week for 26 weeks. Defenders of the system would say that it's a spur to get people back to work. Critics would say that it forces people into jobs that present themselves quickly rather than jobs that are actually a good fit, depressing both productivity and happiness. And if you were laid off for no fault of your own and simply can't find work amidst a sluggish economy -- as is the case for many right now -- it's an undeniably stingy benefit.
