Since the unemployment benefit extensions are ending, will more Americans be willing to take lower paying jobs?

More Americans are willing to take lower paying jobs but those jobs just aren't there. Something to be aware of also is the 99 weeks thrown all over the media is A LIE. Most people have not collected even close to that. I am still on my original claim and cannot even get ONE extension!

Lower wages are being offered because of supply and demand, I understand that. But I also understand a FAIR WAGE. If companies are trying to save money then why doesn't the CEO and CFO take pay cuts? Their salaries are public record and I don't see them going down!

I'm getting really very angry at the idiots calling the unemployed deadbeats, lazy, etc etc. They don't know what they're talking about and I'm looking forward to the day when it's their turn. Most unemployed are tax-paying Americans with families to support who have lost their jobs thru no fault of their own and are finding that the jobs just aren't out there.

Then they say work at McDonalds, work at Walmart - guess what - They're not hiring!! Then they say go take the jobs from the illegals - yeah right, I'm going to leave my family, where my roots are, my home where I was born and raised to go to some desert with total strangers. That's asking to get killed - more stupidity from those who don't have a clue.

There is a big divide being created here - the very rich and the very poor. This is not the America I was raised to believe in.

First and foremost, I have never heard a liberal make the argument that illegals take the jobs we don't want. It's not about what jobs Americans want, it's about what jobs employers want illegals to fill because they are cheaper. Now, I'm a liberal, so I will tell you how we think. There needs to be a safety net for those who cannot find work. Requirements are set my state unemployment offices about what you must do while collecting unemployment. They are looking for work. Very little abuse the system. There are currently five applicants for every job available. Now, that is an average, taking all jobs into account. Next, you must consider what jobs people are able to do. I know some people think there are a plethora of fast food jobs available, but for one, that's not the case, and for two, those jobs are even harder to get because they get thousands of applications. You are better off looking in your field and what you're experienced in, because you are more likely to get those jobs. Once you start getting too low of a job for your experience, employers start thinking "wow, when the economy picks up, this person will be gone." They don't want that. Employers like retention.That's the logical side of looking at it. For the emotional side, it's not so easy to tell someone who's been an accountant for 30 years to go get a job at McDonalds or Walmart. I'm not sure what people are thinking when they say this kind of thing, but it's far from reality. It's unreasonable and insensitive to expect it. This is not the hard-knox life here. People have a right to expect reasonable jobs that are somewhat relative to their education and experience. On the illegal immigration, which in this questions serves more as a red herring than anything else. I know you like to think of illegal immigrants as those people you see in these long fields picking crops for a dollar an hour. But really, these people are being employed by well-established businesses, sometimes deliberately sometimes not. We need to find a way to hold these businesses responsible for hiring these people. I really don't believe you can blame someone who risked life and limb t sneak into this country so that he may make a better life for themselves. You need to go after why they are coming here illegally, and you need to make it easier for them to legally come here.

I was told by an employment counselor that I am NOT being offered any jobs due to the high wages I made from my last full-time job. He failed to explain to me why this wasn't prohibited by state law. I told him that it should be illegal for employers to ask what your former wage was, so that they can discriminate against you on that basis. Am I suppose to lie on a job application? If I am hired, and they find out I lied, it is automatic grounds for dismissal. How is this suppose to help people who want to work, but made too much in 2007?

This American is currently working a temp job that pays less than I made 10 years ago.

We don't have a choice but to take less pay if we want to eat.

Some of the Democrats I know are doing that. They will not get a job until the last penny of unemployment runs out.

ANY source of income, other than unemployment benefits, will help get the economy moving again.

Maybe that's why Dems want to extend benefits longer....the longer the economy sucks, the easier it is to take Industries over.

No. They're just going to sit there and ***** about how Bush screwed everything up and the rich get richer. Avail themselves of actual jobs? Please. If they bothered to do that, there would be more checkout counters open during a given time of day or night at Walmart.

Yes, now that Americans will be forced to go back to work, they will have to take lower paying jobs commensurate with the lower standard of living that Obama wants them to have.

What people seem to forget is that a lot of McJobs have maximum qualification levels, not minimum.

If you've got a degree you can forget it - they know you won't be satisfied long term and they won't even interview you. They WANT high school leavers.

Or they'll just go on welfare officially a little sooner.