A dozen state senators in North Carolina have introduced a bill that would require citizens who are collecting unemployment benefits to get back to work as volunteers.
Senate Bill 737, sponsored last month by Republican senators Warren Daniels, Dan Soucek and Andrew Brock would require unemployed citizens to volunteer five or 10 hours per week, depending on how long they have been collecting benefits.
Nonprofit organizations, religious entities and government or public organizations, such as libraries, schools or parks are some of the places where the unemployed could work as volunteers.
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"The goal is basically that in the U.S. there is no business that pays somebody to do nothing," Daniel said. "…I think some other side benefits are that work has always been associated with self-worth and self-esteem."
To keep receiving benefits, Daniel said unemployment benefits recipients would have to report to the North Carolina Employment Security Commission each week to prove they are actively seeking employment and also to submit verification of their volunteer work.
Daniel said unemployed people have the potential to learn new job skills and have opportunities to network through volunteering.
A Florida Republican introduced a similar bill earlier this year, but such a measure has been criticized there as a contradiction to federal law.
There has been criticism of North Carolina's bill as well. "It seems as though these people aren't being encouraged to volunteer so much as being forced to volunteer," said Attorney Bob Bollinger, who specializes in employment-related issues."
He added, "I don't know that the argument that people are going to develop skills by doing this little bit of volunteer work is a very compelling argument. It just doesn't seem like enough time to allow those skills to develop."
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