Depends on the country, I talk for Spain, here we have something called "Paro", it's paid from a state fund that's of course, paid with taxes, I've worked for six years straight so I had up to 2 years of this help, also I had my savings.

It's not sustainable in the way its done today, but hey, it's better than nothing and it actually help to have government sponsored courses and a leave that you pay beforehand while you work, I don't know how it works in other European countries, but at least here you can take a time and not lose your life working as they do in America.