Not having a job generally means you won't have health insurance, nor an income, and thus won't have access to non-emergency health care. Recent estimates are that there are about 45,000 excess deaths annually due to lack of health insurance (source: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/new-study-find...).

Furthermore, homelessness and malnutrition also increase the death rate. There are lots of homeless and hungry people in the US.

So while you might not immediately die due to being unemployed, as there are a variety of safety nets, being without a job will, statistically decrease your expected lifespan. Food assistance does not prevent people from going hungry. Homeless shelters are packed to the brim, and in some cases quite unsafe. You can't get non-emergency care if you are unemployed and broke, at least until Obamacare kicks in (or if you are covered by Romneycare).

Literally die the hour you lose your job? No. But lose a job and become homeless? Or desperately find another job that barely supports your family and you end up living in poverty in a neighborhood with high crime? Almost every major US city.

I don't think delirium was suggesting someone would keel over and die after N weeks without a job. Rather, not having a job makes paying for healthcare, eating well, owning or renting a home difficult or impossible (these are difficult for many people with jobs!). All of these are significant factors in increasing both life expectancy and quality of life.

While working solely to live longer and live decently doesn't have quite the same ring as working solely to avoid dying, the meaning of his statement seems clear.