Neither Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dan Onorato nor other Pennsylvania residents should be outraged over GOP candidate for governor Tom Corbett's now-infamous unemployment-benefits statement.

The fact is that some unemployed Keystone State residents — how many, no one knows — exhibit little or no urgency in finding a new job while unemployment benefits still flow.

Some of those unemployed freely admit that they're content not to be working, as long as they have money coming to them, even if it is only about half of their normal paycheck.

It's the same with welfare. There are generations of some families that live on public assistance, with no desire to work.

Contrary to Onorato's initial reaction to Corbett's suggestion that some jobless Pennsylvanians choose to collect unemployment checks rather than go back to work, Corbett isn't lacking compassion because he had the courage to say something he knew was politically incorrect.

Instead, Onorato's statement that "I don't know what world Tom Corbett is living in" exhibits a reluctance by the current Allegheny County executive to acknowledge a fact that he has to know is true.

Onorato is correct in reminding Corbett and everyone else that Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is at 9.1 percent, a 26-year high. It is a situation that is of deep concern to this commonwealth.

But it's worth noting that this state's newspapers, each day in their "Help Wanted" ads, list thousands of available jobs. Butler Eagle readers who think available jobs are gobbled up before the paper's ink is dry should follow the jobs listings on a regular basis, then watch for information on how many people are continuing to sign up for unemployment benefits at Pennsylvania CareerLink Butler County at the Pullman Commerce Center.

"Our economy is struggling, families in Pennsylvania are hurting, and Harrisburg insiders like Tom Corbett aren't doing anything to help them," Onorato said.

Indeed, many hard-luck state residents who had held a steady job for many years before being cast into the unemployment lines deserve help. But, as difficult as it might be to fathom, some people are content being on the jobless rolls — at least until their benefits are close to running out.

Part of the problem with unemployment compensation is that claimants are not required to search for a job. According to David Smith, a state Labor Department spokesman, to maintain benefits, they must attest that they are "ready and available" to work and cannot refuse any offer of "suitable employment," a term that encompasses their qualifications as well as their pay level.

As an article in the Wall Street Journal in April pointed out, for some people government programs, such as extended unemployment benefits, provide an incentive not to work.

Consider the words of White House economic adviser Lawrence H. Summers in his chapter on "Unemployment" in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, first published in 1999:

"The second way government assistance programs contribute to long-term unemployment is by providing an incentive, and the means, not to work. Each person has a 'reservation wage' — the minimum wage he or she insists on getting before accepting a job. Unemployment insurance and other social assistance programs increase (the) reservation wage, causing an unemployed person to remain unemployed longer."

In his statement that upset so many but which was based, in part, on his interaction with employers in the state, Corbett said, "The jobs are there. But if we keep extending unemployment, people are just going to sit there."

That is not to say that unemployment benefits should not be extended, but Corbett should have pledged that, if elected, he would push for a greater emphasis on getting people off the unemployment rolls — seeking to implement stiffer requirements regarding job searches.

Richard Bloomingdale, AFL-CIO president, expressing astonishment at Corbett's comment, said, "Unemployed workers would rather be working, feeding their families, and paying the mortgage than living with the uncertainty of not having a job, earning less than half their wages, and going without health care and pensions."

But even he should admit that, while that might be true in most cases, in too many instances people are willing to float along on unemployment until they are forced to go back to work.

Corbett wasn't wrong in openly stating that fact, and the federal government needs to weigh that fact when considering unemployment-benefits extensions.