Rand states profitable businesses require people to be unemployed, yet applying for jobs: “that business concern requires the availability of more than one applicant for any job – that if only one applicant existed … the business concern would have to close its doors”[1].
Rand says this is justice: “… giving value for value… the principle of trade… is justice” [2]
If a person’s unemployment is a service of value which keeps a business open, separate from the value of being employed, then that service should be paid for separately as well, according to Rand’s philosophy. By the same reasoning, maintenance of a national pool of unemployed should be paid for.
Therefore, Rand’s philosophy supports unemployment compensation.
[1] The Virtue of Selfishness, The “Conflicts” of Men’s Interests Pg. 56
[2] The Virtue of Selfishness, The Objectivist Ethics, pg 31 .