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<title> Why work? </title>
Unemployment is a burning issue in many countries. In Sweden unemployment is the cause of a lot of problems the country is facing., and is a major issue in every general election. 
	There are a lot of questions I ask myself concerning unemployment in Sweden:
 Is it really fair that some people are choosing to be unemployed because they make as much, sometimes more money than they would do working?
Is it fair that people with jobs that require an education in many cases don't make more money than people with jobs that doesn't require education? 
It might be easier to get a job if you have an education but what is the point if someone else is making the same money on benefits?
A lot of people might think it's wrong to live on benefits but should it really be a question of morale if an unemployed person should try to get a job or just keep living on benefits?
Is this really the right way to fight unemployment and motivate people to educate themselves. I don't think so.
	People in Sweden have a high living standard, and people without serious social problems such as abuse of drugs or alcohol will with or without a job live a rather decent life. At the same time Sweden is a country with huge debts and sometime these debts will have to be paid of. The system with unemployment benefits is costing a lot of money but I believe that the biggest problem with it is that it makes people very unwilling to educate themselves. 
	My father has been in Asia recently and got in touch with a lot of people from that continent, especially people from Japan and China. He was very surprised by their knowledge and their very different attitude towards education. There young students actually wants to learn things. Students over there doesn't have the same possibilities to higher education as we in Sweden have but are much more eager to get educated. My father thinks that the Asians in a near future will take over as the leading "raze" and then the countries in Europe and North America will get much poorer. I don't really share his alarming view at the situation but there might be some truth in it. The mentality the Asians have is not shared by most of us Swedes. I must admit that my own reasons for studying is not only to get an education but to experience all that comes with it. 
		People in Sweden don't have the pressure to get a job or an education as in many other countries. Here the government gives people the option not to work but live with the same standards anyway, and many do that. To care for the less fortunate is a good thing but I don't think that just handing out money is a good way of doing that. Some people would probably be in great danger to get problems with alcohol or drugs if they were just sitting around the house, and I don't think many would be in a rush to get a new job. To get them out working as soon as possible is a better solution. They should not do unpaid work in the public sector to earn their unemployment benefits but instead get paid for the work they do. There are a lot of holes to fill for example in schools and health care. The government could also support companies and motivate them to hire more people. If companies hired more people there would probably be a shortage of educated and skilled workers which would make the wages higher and probably motivate more people to get an education. Unemployment benefits could be handed out for just a few months giving a person a chance to get a job of his own choice and if he was unable to find one the government should provide a job for him. This would motivate people to go out and find jobs themselves.
	To take away the unemployment benefits and instead support companies so that they can provide jobs in the private sector is a better way of dealing with unemployment. Hopefully this would also make people more willing to get an education.
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