How Government Boosted Unemployment

Some economists believe that the Obama White House and liberal "stimulus" efforts have actually increased our unemployment rate over where it would otherwise be.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_stimulus_for_unemployment_Q082yIXFBCIxk41lqXXt6H

When you subsidize something, you get more of it. Extending unemployment benefits from 26 to 79 weeks was guaranteed to leave many more people unemployed for many more months.

And longer unemployment translates to higher unemployment rates -- because the relatively small numbers of newly unemployed are added to stubbornly large numbers of those who lost their jobs more than six months ago.

The unemployment rate has not been rising because of growing numbers of newly jobless people. Indeed, initial claims for unemployment benefits are way down. And the number of unfilled private job openings increased by 9.3 percent from the end of April to the end of September.

The unemployment rate has been rising because unprecedented numbers of those who became unemployed six to 19 months ago are remaining "on the dole" until their benefits are nearly exhausted.

The White House recently made the mysterious claim of having "saved" 640,329 jobs, at a cost of only $531,250 per job ($340 billion).

In reality, the evidence is overwhelming that the February stimulus bill has added at least two percentage points to the unemployment rate. If Congress and the White House hadn't tried so hard to stimulate long-term unemployment, the US unemployment rate would now be about 8 percent and falling rather than more than 10 percent and -- rising.

The author of this piece makes his case rather well, and provides supporting information to prove his points. I recommend this read.