Help (NOT) wanted

As the new year begins, I and thousands of other Americans are looking for work. While many thousands have simply given up the search, there are many more like me that keep plugging away every day, hoping to find a job that will allow them to pay the bills, put food on the table and live with a measure of dignity.
Some would have you believe that unemployment insurance only discourages people from seeking work. Those who make this argument haven't tried to live on the $300 or less that recipients receive. While I'm sure there is a small minority who would rather collect a government check than do real work, I don't believe tis is true of most working people.
In March, it will be three full years since I last worked on a full-time basis. Since that time, I have applied for hundreds of jobs in a wide variety of fields. Although at first I focused on jobs in teaching or in print journalism, I long ago abandoned that focus. Although I have four years' experience as a college English instructor, I am not "qualified" to teach high school kids because I don't have state certification. Although I have more than 20 years' experience as a newspaper reporter and editor, the newspaper industry is on life support and not looking for reporters or editors.
I applied for a job editing my small hometown newspaper. This was a position I was amply qualified for, but the job went to a much younger editor. The publisher informed me of his choice and offered me part-time work covering the local high school football team. He was willing to pay $15 per game for coverage. I pointed out that covering a high school football game takes about three hours. At $15 per game, he was offering less than the minimum wage. I declined and suggested he look for a high school student, perhaps the team manager.
I suppose that critics of unemployment insurance would point to this example as proof that it makes people lazy and unwillling to accept work. If that's true, then they're right. But I don't think rejecting a ridiculously low offer makes someone a bum. The minimum wage law was enacted to prevent employers from exploiting workers.
The employment picture is so bad these days that employers routinely receive a hundred applications for every vacant position. This has allowed employers to not only be very selective, but also allows them to lower wages. Many times, the person hired is the one willing to accept the lowest wage. Many employers are taking advantage of this. The salary offers I see on web sites like journalismjobs.com are the same low levels I saw when I first entered journalism 30 years ago.
Today before I begin the 2011 job search, I will go down to the unemployment office to verify what I already suspect - the unemployment extension approved by Congress last month doesn't apply to long-term unemployed such as myself. I suspect I already know the answer, but I want someone in a government office to tell it to my face. Whether or not I'm qualified, the search for a job, any job, will continue.