Thing is, neither do most people.

    SELECT TOP 1 job,residence
    FROM jobs JOIN residences
    WHERE jobs.pay > residences.rent
    ORDER BY jobs.pay DESC, residences.rent ASC

    AND jobs.category NOT IN ('murder','prostitution')
    AND residences.crime_factor < 0.4

But that doesn't change the fact that LOTS of people believe in their hearts that they have absolutely no choice but to continue doing exactly what they are doing.

I'd hazard the guess that almost all of us have actually removed WHERE predicates because during the initial searches (back in late childhood), zero rows were returned. Predicates like

    jobs.category = 'helping_people'

    residences.climate = 'tropical'

Why exactly is it so hard to survive without a job, in 2016? I mean, physically. You need air and water and food and shelter. Those are listed in decreasing order of necessary frequency.

Seems to me that the problem is rent and the social framework that enforces eviction via violence--even if the space isn't otherwise being used.

I, for one, would not die without a job--not from starvation. But I would eventually be arrested, beat up, stripped of my possessions, etc, and that would eventually lead to death. The jobless don't die--they are killed.

Slavery.