Coping with Job Loss

DH finally got a job offer today, but the salary was an insult and the health insurance is crazy expensive.   The excuse given was that the salary was "all the budget they had", he had to TALK THEM UP to the number they gave, which is still 15K less than he made before.  There are commissions, but that takes time to build up.    The Medical is so much, we couldn't afford it initially.

DH doensn't know what to do.  He KNOWS he's worth more, but he's afraid they won't negotiate any further, and since this is the ONLY offer, he's not sure what to do.   Any advice?   I don't know what to tell him.   The market is horrid, and there is someone out there that WILL take this job at this rate.   The competition is fierce, but he feels like he's being taken advantage of.   Help Please.. any HR folks out there?  

I've been following your posts and I feel your pain. I think that this is what a lot of companies out there are doing. They are lowballing everyone because they know that there is fierce competition for each position out there, and they assume that everyone is desperate and will take a lower amount. I think this is a terrible way to run a business, and it's only perpetuating the problems in the current economic situation. My fiance has been out of a job for almost 5 months now, and there has been a ton of ups and downs in our relationship as a result. He applies everyday for all sorts of positions and has had 2 interviews, but no job offer yet. He also notices that a lot of the jobs are paying very low amounts. A lot of them won't go too much higher than minimum wage. Sigh, I don't really have any advice on what to do about the lowballing except for him to try to get the highest salary he can get from the company. I think he seems to be doing all that he can do if the company won't budge on the salary. I just wonder when all this bs with the job market will end.