An Atlanta janitorial service earlier this week offered $8-an-hour jobs sweeping floors and cleaning toilets and 56 unemployed people said, ‘Yes, indeed, I’m interested and I’ll come apply in person.'

Yet only a handful of the supposed jobseekers showed up for the interview in northern Cobb County. The turnout led Bob Williams, who owns the cleaning company, to question the work ethic of metro Atlanta’s unemployed.

“Somebody told me the other day, ‘I just don’t like this work. I think I’ll go draw unemployment instead,’ ” Williams said. “A lot of people say they want to work, but do they really want to work?”

If he paid $10 an hour he’d fill more positions. “That would probably work,” said Williams, whose company, AccuClean, services office buildings, schools and YMCAs across metro Atlanta. “But then I’m not competitive and I won’t get (cleaning) accounts.”

AccuClean’s hiring struggles reflect the conflicting economic trends that pushed Georgia's unemployment rate to 10.1 percent in November, from 9.8 percent in October, according to Georgia Department of Labor figures released Thursday.

Low-income, less-educated workers suffer a disproportionately high level of joblessness. The unemployment rate for Americans without a high school diploma, for example, is nearly 16 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But do those jobless truly want a job? Some economists and many conservatives argue that extended unemployment benefits keep the jobless rate artificially high by supporting the unemployed who otherwise would have no choice but to take any job. They pressed their case this past month as Congress debated continuing extended benefits for millions of unemployed Americans.

More at the source: AJC.com