The buyout offer certainly will exceed the unemployment payout for most.
And I’m not saying that in a grumpy way. Yes we do have much higher salaries, and because of that it’s reasonable that it’s on us to save up for this type of rainy day, in accordance with our own personal risk assessment.
It’s honestly something I spent 15 years rarely thinking about, because while I’ve seen many RIFs, I was never worried since getting a new job was as easy as just responding to a few of the messages that constantly came in via LinkedIn or email. No longer.
Not everyone has options and unemployment can be the difference between being on the street or eating ramen.
Generally, in the US, unemployment lasts a few months tops. Regardless of how long you worked, or how long you will be without work.