r/science user about long-term unemployment

I kind of relate to some of that. Yesterday, I had to go to the doctor, and it was the first time I have left the apartment in like three months. It's easier than I had imagined to disengage and withdraw from society, even though I already feel it's hard on my body (and the few people around me, but if I'm being honest I have lost my ability to care to some degree). I don't really see a future, I've gotten really lazy, and lost enthusiasm over the years. But seen in a different light, my situation is kind of freeing, too. Feels like "I've already passed my test in life".

I don't think I relate that much to the "I will never be able to afford a house or nice wedding" parts, I would assume that's probably more of a middle-class (or former middle-class) sentiment. It's never been realistic for me, even though it might be cool to have some kind of house/hut. But I agree being long-term unemployed restricts your choices (freedom) in ways that are detrimental to changing your situation, and housing as a whole definitely is an issue that contributes.

Being unemployed and poor makes people less mobile and flexible, as most long-term unemployed people (unless they are upper-class unemployed) won't find an apartment (even with roommates) in the current housing market here, especially in cities and areas with more job opportunities (since many people want to live in such places). Being long-term unemployed excludes you from the job-market (almost nobody wants to hire people with multi-year gaps in their resume), and even if you find an unpleasant/unpopular job you could get hired for, it will be hard to fill that position since the housing market also excludes you (despite of the populist myth, most landlords really don't like unemployed people as tenants), which makes it almost impossible to move for a job that might be available.

The suggestion of the poster to do some charity work is really good, but the issue of limited mobility (there are way more opportunities for charity work in cities, but long-term unemployed people are excluded from living in or near cities if they don't already live there) still applies. Disability, or degrading skills as a result of long-term unemployment also might make it harder to meaningfully contribute. I remember volunteering when I was young, and even though I was not yet long-term unemployed at that time, my social skills were so bad it was not a good experience and did not make any others (or myself) feel better.

There's also the concept of subsidized jobs in Germany (where an employer is paid by the state to hire an unemployed person), but to me, it seems hard to properly implement such schemes without undermining worker's rights and distorting the labor market in favor of the owning class. Technically, those subsidized jobs are only allowed if they are not able to replace "real" jobs, but practically, that's not easily verifiable. The people working those subsidized jobs also don't have workers' rights (since they are not considered workers by law). From what I've read, the more intensive of those subsidized measures specifically for long-term unemployed people cost about 1820 € per month on average (source in German), which makes me wonder if it wouldn't be better to just give people cash if they'd prefer (but that might have secondary effects by making some people in the social sector who run such programs lose their jobs).

The post talks about social contracts being broken, which to me kind of sounds like implying social contracts ever used to be non-broken, but I'm not optimistic about that because I assume the "brokenness" is kinda inherent. The contributions of individuals of a community started to matter less for survival once people formed larger agricultural societies, and it became possible to accumulate resources to such a degree they could be used to make "natural" social power hierarchies even steeper. I feel social contracts are mostly just divide and rule tactics of those higher up in social hierarchies, and with agricultural and industrial societies, the power differentials have grown. Probably I'm just overly cynical, though.

In 1950ies and 1960ies Germany, there were people, mostly young men with long hair, who tried to reject middle-class life and regular gainful employment. They hung out in public spaces together, being perceived by the majority as lazy and unkempt menaces to society. They were called Gammler as an insult (meaning something like "bum(s)"; the noun Gammler is derived from the verb gammeln (to spoil/rot, but also "to hang around lazily"); the adjective gammelig (rotten/old) has the same proto-Germanic ancestor as the Danish and Norwegian-Bokmål adjective gammel which means "old"), but many of those being called Gammler started to claim that word for themselves. There even were Wochenendgammler (weekend-bums), who identified with that subculture superficially, but only hung out with the others in the evening or on weekends (since they had normal, regular jobs).
There's an interesting 1966 documentary about some of Munich's Gammler (sadly only in German) called Herbst der Gammler, it has some wild interviews with the "regular" Germans demanding the young, "lazy" and unkempt people hanging out in public to be put into camps again.

I miss the time when I felt healthy enough to be outside just taking up some public space like the Gammler did. It felt okay being an eyesore and outsider because I still felt willing to try things and felt at least kind of healthy. But I think it's easy to get sick, and being unhealthy makes it way harder to live an independent, different life others don't approve of. And most of the Gammler stopped being that once they got older after all. I think the more I am losing my abilities, the more I feel trapped by "normal" society which I have gotten used to be fed by. I think it's possible to be unemployable but content, but I think being unhealthy makes it way harder (and being unemployed makes it easier to make unwise health decisions). At the same time, health and unhealthiness are concepts which can be used to exclude unwanted people from society, so it's important to be aware of that as well I think, to not give up too soon trying to find contentment.