Posted on 06/16/2021 6:40:27 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
The US economy is in a perplexing state of labor market purgatory. We have 9.3 million unfilled job openings, all while millions of Americans remain on unemployment benefits and millions more are opting out of the labor force entirely.
In short, a labor shortage is throttling the economic recovery. But why?
A new study published by the fiscally-conservative Committee to Unleash Prosperity offers a comprehensive examination of one of the labor shortage’s main causes: lucrative unemployment benefits. In March 2020, the federal government passed a “temporary” $600/week supplement on top of existing state-level unemployment payouts. It was reduced to a $300/week supplement in President Biden’s COVID-19 “stimulus” legislation but extended through September 2021.
Many conservative-leaning states have taken the initiative to suspend the excessive benefits early, but they are set to continue throughout the summer in dozens of states with Democratic governors. This new study finds that under the current benefits regime in conjunction with other welfare programs, households can earn the equivalent of $25/hour (assuming a 40 hour work week) by staying home with neither adult working.
In 19 states, a family of four with two parents who aren’t working can receive benefits roughly equal to a $100,000 annual salary. Across all 25 “blue” states choosing to leave the benefits in place, the average unemployment payout for a family of four exceeds $72,000, significantly more than the median household income of $68,703.
A graph included in the report shows how the lapse of the original benefit expansion corresponded with a precipitous drop in people on unemployment, yet reveals that this drop-off stagnated once the second supplement was implemented.
The study is authored by esteemed free-market economists: University of Chicago professor Casey Mulligan, FreedomWorks economist Stephen Moore, and Texas Public Policy Foundation economist E. J. Antoni. Mulligan served in the Trump administration and Moore was a Trump advisor.
The economists ultimately conclude that “it is now nearly beyond dispute that supplemental unemployment benefits are reducing employment” and that “if Congress or the remaining states were to suspend the weekly benefit supplement, several million more workers would gain employment over the summer months.”
But it doesn’t take an expert to see how offering people more money to stay home than to return to work would lead to increased unemployment. It’s a simple matter of econ 101, incentives, and human nature.
“[We should] look at economic policies and economic systems in terms of the incentives they create, rather than simply the goals they pursue,” famed economist Thomas Sowell wrote in Basic Economics. “This means that consequences matter more than intentions—and not just the immediate consequences, but also the longer run repercussions of decisions, policies, and institutions.”
Given the incentives created, it’s not exactly shocking that when the government meddles with the labor market to financially discourage working to a massive degree, fewer people will work. Yet it’s a perfect explanation for the economic purgatory we now find our recovery stalled in.
Even welfare types can do that math.
So they do some off the books part time stuff and they earn 100k w/o breaking a sweat. PLYS, free college, free medical...
These are the real culprits who aren’t “paying any taxes”.
At least the billionaires are creating thousands of good jobs.
Here’s the Marxists states pushing this BS:
State/District Annualized Payments Hourly Wage Equivalent
Massachusetts $147,198 $37
Washington $138,095 $35
New Jersey $136,403 $34
Minnesota $132,644 $33
Connecticut $129,656 $32
Oregon $125,441 $31
Hawaii $123,654 $31
Pennsylvania $121,911 $30
Illinois $121,363 $30
Rhode Island $119,208 $30
Colorado $117,568 $29
Kentucky $115,482 $29
Maine $115,312 $29
Vermont $112,049 $28
Kansas $109,271 $27
California $109,062 $27
New York $108,859 $27
New Mexico $107,541 $27
Nevada $106,131 $27
DC $101,176 $25
Delaware $98,698 $25
Virginia $97,771 $24
Wisconsin $91,678 $23
Michigan $90,123 $23
North Carolina $90,047 $23
Louisiana $82,044 $21
Ooopsie. Common sense strikes again.
(Now, tell me again why is not published in the WashPoop or NYTimes? Why it is missing in today’s ABCNNBCBS TV shows?)
Oh, by the way, “teenagers” (college-age, post-college age) are now are in that “two adults” household earning 72,000.00 annual equivalent on welfare - They are not in “school” right now either, right?
We need to adopt the European system of Workfare. If you are unemployed, you can collect welfare benefits, but you must show up for work at a gov’t facility. Sometimes it’s cleaning toilets, sweeping streets, washing windows...whatever. You work 5 days a week, 8AM-5PM. If you have young kids, they go to a gov’t run day care center and some portion of your welfare benefits are used to fund the day care. Most quickly find a better paying job in the private sector.
Stop that right now. Go to your room. No supper for you. Good thing this was a post rather than an utterance or we’d have to wash your mouth out with soap. Truthfulness is not allowed under the rules established by your betters.
Where I live city and county governments are shutdown in many places because no one will take the jobs, yet the locals are living with new cars, houses and any manner of luxury. How?
Are those welfare and unemployment benefits taxed?
The Democrats will say we need hordes of 3rd world workers to “prop the system up, pay into Social security for the old people and do the jobs Americans won’t do.”
They’ll look in Africa and South America for these workes.
I knew the Soviet of Washington would be near the top of this list. Actually, we’re first on the list when you factor in the fact the geniuses that are elected here have legalized all drugs, have wet section 8 housing, free pot at vagrant shanty towns provided by state grants and my fav…Joints for Jabs.
As an outside salesMAN I go into at least 1 home a day that fits the description of people in this article. It infuriates me so much that I never, ever give those louts any sales concessions, if anything I try to sell them products that exceed their necessities. It works almost every time.
and here we are living off of $11 for about 38 hours per week with zero welfare. Silly us. Getting tough with this inflation. Might have to start going to the local food pantry.
Those who are working are paying those who aren’t working. And now the government is promoting CRT that attacks the majority of those who are still working.
Yes and no. Welfare maybe, unemployment yes BUT, my wife read someplace the illegitimate administration has decided to refund any income taxes paid on Unemployment Payments for 2020. Whether that happens WTFK.
Curious what % of jobs, in Europe, are private vs govt. And, what their overall unemployment rate is.
Any idea?
You can see unemployment rates by country here:
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/unemployment-rate?continent=europe
I’d take the Communists’ rates with a block of salt. This site gives some breakouts of public employees:
The first graph suggests Germany has about 5% public employees; about 1/5 of the US level. I don’t believe that those on workfare are counted as employees.
Handing-out millions of $600 checks every week that are backed by nothing.
And nobody can figure out what is driving 5% inflation in the past 5 months?
Hyperinflation is here.
Yes, it’s no wonder why employers can’t get anyone to apply.
Many years ago, before it was this ridiculous, the local welfare office secretary quit because the clients were bringing home more sitting on their backsides than she was working 40 hr/wk.
Insane
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