It pays not to work in Biden's America

[CF DolFan]

I can't believe the number of "Help Wanted" signs I see around town. So many service industry and small businesses are struggling to get anyone to work even though unemployment is high. Biden thinks the answer is to spend more money while it seems painfully obvious to me that what Republicans have ben saying has come true ... keep giving it away and no one will work.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9554395/Americans-getting-benefits-wages-stopping-economic-recovery.html

It pays not to work in Biden's America: Experts project anyone who earned $32,000 before COVID could now earn MORE in benefits staying at home
-The average weekly unemployment benefit is now $638 - $300 more than what it was 2019
-That means people are earning around $16-an-hour - more than double minimum wage which is at least $7.25 across America
-It is creating a nightmare scenario for the economy; businesses are desperate to recover from the pandemic but they can't fill their jobs
-It is forcing business owners to pay higher wages to attract workers, after a devastating year when they were financially knee-capped
-Restaurant owners, for example, say it's already driving inflation and the country isn't fully open again  
-Republican states are cutting unemployment benefits to get people back to work
-Mitch McConnell said the government has 'flooded the zone with checks' and it has dissuaded people from looking for jobs
-Montana's Gov axed federal unemployment checks and instead, is giving people $1,200 bonuses to get jobs
-South Carolina is also scrapping the federal $300-a-week unemployment boost
-April's jobs growth was a quarter of what was expected at just 266,000 instead of 1million
-A third of the country has now been vaccinated and businesses should be reopening

People who lost their jobs in the pandemic are now earning more in benefits than they did in wages, creating a nightmare economic situation that is stopping people from returning to work and in turn, driving up inflation.

In March 2019, the average weekly payment to an unemployed person was $348 when combining federal and state unemployment payments.

That nearly tripled to $938 in April 2020, when Trump passed COBRA - a temporary economic plan that boosted weekly unemployment payments by $600 and also gave employed people one-off stimulus checks. COBRA expired in July and the unemployment boost was halved to $300-a-week. Now, they are $638-a-week on average and they'll stay that way until September 6 at least.

It means, someone who was working 40 hours a week before the pandemic now gets nearly $16-an-hour to do nothing at home, which is more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

Bank of America estimates that anyone who earned $32,000 before the pandemic can now get more from a combination of state and federal unemployment benefits. They are also allowed to claim benefits for up to 39 weeks - nearly a full year - whereas before, it was capped at 26 weeks. The average US salary in 2019 was $31,133.

It has created a scenario where restaurant workers, cleaners, retail workers and other people who slogged for minimum wage are simply choosing to stay at home because they earn more and are not put at risk of catching the virus.

Now, the only way for businesses to make up for it is by raising their prices - and Republicans are up in arms about the fast-paced inflation it is causing.

But on Friday, President Joe Biden said the answer was to spend more money. He claimed Americans are looking for work - despite there being some 9million unemployed - and that there just needed to be more jobs on the market.

He was slapped down immediately by economists, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Neil Bradley, who said: 'The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market.'

A third of the country is now vaccinated and business owners are frantically trying to revive their profits but with no one there to fill the jobs, they're unable to.

Restaurant owners who have been financially knee-capped with closures now have to compete with higher-paying sectors if they want to attract staff, and with rising vendor costs across the board, it is manifesting in higher prices for customers.

Republicans want to stop the cycle before it goes any further; in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis is telling those people that they have to prove they are looking for jobs again if they want to receive unemployment. In Montana, the Governor has ditched the $300 weekly boost and instead, is offering people a one-time bonus of $1,200 to go back to work.

Unemployment has shrunk from 14% last April to 6% but that is still nearly double what it was in March 2019, before the pandemic had begun.

This week, the number of people being put out of work shrank, with 500,000 claiming unemployment for the first time as opposed to around 6million at the peak of the crisis.

Last week, 550,000 new claims for unemployment were made. In total, some 9.7million people in America are claiming some form of unemployment aid.

But the number of people getting back into work fell far short of what Wall Street predicted. Only 266,000 new workers were registered for April, a quarter of the 1million that were predicted.

In May 2019, the unemployment rate was 3.9 percent. It skyrocketed to 14 percent in April 2020 and has since dropped but it's still 6 percent.

Business owners, eager to revive their profits after a deadly year of closures, can't find staff.

'Every hospitality owner I know is suffering. We just cannot find workers at all.

'A lot of them have changed industries into construction, for example, or others have just moved away. What we're seeing is a major wage increase and an increase in vendor costs.

'This is going to lead to higher prices on food checks so when customers are paying 20 percent more in their bills, they'll know why.

'It's inflation across the board, in every aspect, and it's here now.

'We're no longer waiting for it - it has arrived,' restaurateur Robert Mahon, who owns Toro Loco and Broadstone in New York City and is affiliated with the Pig N Whistle Group, told DailyMail.com on Friday.

'If I was working a back-breaking job and making $600 a week and I had had the option of making $600 and not breaking my back — the choice is obvious. The government unintentionally shot itself in the foot.

'The stimulus plan is being completely undermined by the unemployment program,' Philippe Massoud, CEO of the Lebanese eatery Ilili, told The New York Post.  

McDonald's is offering bonuses to hire people, and fast-food chain Chipotle is pushing one of its perks - paying college tuition for workers who have been with them for four months or more.

One unemployed restaurant worker told AP anonymously that she'll use the unemployment benefits as leverage to get higher pay.

'Unemployment benefits have been like collective bargaining. They made a union out of all of us,' she said.

'Demand is outpacing supply,' said Daniel Zhao, senior economist at Glassdoor, a job listings website.

'That’s something that is occurring across the economy, in semiconductors to lumber, and we’re seeing a similar crunch in the labor market.'

The reasons people are giving range from still being scared of COVID, not wanting to get a vaccine, being unable to find childcare for their kids who are still at home and, not seeing the point when benefits are high.

The latter has Republican leaders up in arms.

South Carolina and Montana have both dropped out of the $300-a-week boost in federal unemployment payments.

'We have flooded the zone with checks that I’m sure everybody loves to get, and also enhanced unemployment.

'And what I hear from business people, hospitals, educators, everybody across the state all week is, regretfully, it’s actually more lucrative for many Kentuckians and Americans to not work than work.

'We have a workforce shortage and we have raising inflation, both directly related to this recent bill that just passed,' Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell said on Thursday.

Gov. Henry McMaster in South Carolina is also stopping the federal payments to 'address ongoing workforce shortages throughout' his state.

DeSantis, in Florida, said he is now going to demand that people claiming unemployment benefits start proving that they are looking for work.

'Normally when you’re getting unemployment, the whole idea is that’s temporary, and you need to be looking for work to be able to get off unemployment.

'It was a disaster [at the beginning of the pandemic], so we suspended those job search requirements. I think it’s pretty clear now, we have an abundance of job openings.

'We suspended that last year at this time because, quite frankly, there weren’t jobs.

'I think now we’re in just a different situation, you have a surplus of jobs, particularly in restaurant, lodging, hospitality, that people want to hire.

'But we also just want to make sure, like, look, if you’re really unemployed, can’t get a job, that’s one thing.

'But making sure that you’re doing your due diligence to look for work, and making sure those incentives align better,' he said at a press conference on Friday.

Montana's Governor Greg Gianforte is giving people $1,200 bonuses to return to work.

'Montana is open for business again, but I hear from too many employers throughout our state who can’t find workers. Nearly every sector in our economy faces a labor shortage.  

'Incentives matter and the vast expansion of federal unemployment benefits is now doing more harm than good. We need to incentivize Montanans to reenter the workforce.

'Our return-to-work bonus and the return to pre-pandemic unemployment programs will help get more Montanans back to work,' he said in an announcement this week.  

[Fau Teixeira]

Maybe it says something that waiters that make $2 / hr and get no benefits, would prefer instead to have stability of making about $15/hr rather than rushing back to the jobs that shit-canned them instantly last year.

[dolphins4life]

It paid not to wor in Obama's America.   

[Spider-Dan]

Pretty strange how "free market capitalists" magically forget how supply and demand curves work the moment they want more employees than they have.  Here's a crazy idea:

Try offering higher wages!

Everyone has all this spending money, right?  The economy is "roaring."  So why are employers still acting like we're in a recession?

I remember that in 2009, my job notified all employees that they would be taking a 10% pay cut across the board due to the "slow economy," and if you don't like it, there's the door.  So now that the economy is doing great and customers have money to burn, where's the raises?  Oh wait... all that money has been going to stock buybacks and dividend payouts.

It's also incredibly convenient that when we have trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest few, an improving economy is A Good Thing and the words "inflation" are not mentioned on this planet... but once we start giving money to the littles, suddenly we have to worry about them being properly incentivized to keep working and there's a bunch of pearl-clutching about the economy "overheating" (?!).

[CF DolFan]

LMAO ... they live fine on unemployment but paying them that wage isn’t enough for their “skills” or lack there of? Many people are making less on unemployment but are content because it doesn’t require any commitments to working. Nothing like ignoring the obvious and that is many people don’t want to work, go to school, or develop skills to get a higher paying job. Poor people who need to work are out there busting their ass to get ahead but lazy people are content to stay at the bottom and America shouldn’t be on the hook for that. Minorities from other countries succeed here because they want to. It’s really that simple.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

That is mostly Republican fantasy land.  Most of the labor shortage can be traced to lower immigration (prior administration) and lack of seasonal guest workers (due to travel restrictions during a pandemic).  Expanded unemployment benefits is a factor, but a relatively small factor.

[ArtieChokePhin]

That is mostly Republican fantasy land.  Most of the labor shortage can be traced to lower immigration (prior administration) and lack of seasonal guest workers (due to travel restrictions during a pandemic).  Expanded unemployment benefits is a factor, but a relatively small factor.

There's an easy way to replace the jobs that illegal immigrants do..... make prison inmates do it.   Maybe if they are so tired after a hard day's labor, they won't have the strength or desire to beat up on the CO's or ass rape each other.

[Spider-Dan]

LMAO ... they live fine on unemployment but paying them that wage isn’t enough for their “skills” or lack there of? Many people are making less on unemployment but are content because it doesn’t require any commitments to working.

So what about the people who are literally making more on unemployment?

The federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr.
$300/week in additional unemployment benefits, for a 40-hour week, works out to $7.50/hr.
If you have a minimum wage job, you literally make more money staying home during the pandemic than you would going to work.

And this is before we account for people who can't go to work because their child's school is closed due to the continuing pandemic.

I think if we had a $15 minimum wage, you wouldn't be seeing nearly as much of this "problem."

[Fau Teixeira]

There's an easy way to replace the jobs that illegal immigrants do..... make prison inmates do it.   Maybe if they are so tired after a hard day's labor, they won't have the strength or desire to beat up on the CO's or ass rape each other.

for the record, i'm against using slave labor

[ArtieChokePhin]

for the record, i'm against using slave labor

Slave labor?   Bullshit.  These guys could be paid a decent wage that goes on their books so they can buy cigarettes, Ramen noodles, candy bars, sodas, and whatever else they need.  The money can also go towards their court costs/fines.  Any money left over when they get out of prison is given to them to hopefully start a new life outside that is crime free.

[Fau Teixeira]

make prison inmates do it.

I call your bullshit and double down. Forcing someone to work is literally what slavery does

Unless I'm mistaking the meaning of the word MAKE... Does make now mean offer a job with a decent wage so they can buy ramen?

[ArtieChokePhin]

I call your bullshit and double down. Forcing someone to work is literally what slavery does

Unless I'm mistaking the meaning of the word MAKE... Does make now mean offer a job with a decent wage so they can buy ramen?

Keep in mind that these are prison inmates.  Meaning they have committed crimes and are being punished.  When you're in jail, you have no rights.  So yes, hard labor can and should be part of the program.   If they can MAKE you squat and cough so you're not smuggling any contraband inside your anal orifice, then they can MAKE you perform hard labor.

[Fau Teixeira]

Keep in mind that these are prison inmates.  Meaning they have committed crimes and are being punished.  When you're in jail, you have no rights.  So yes, hard labor can and should be part of the program.   If they can MAKE you squat and cough so you're not smuggling any contraband inside your anal orifice, then they can MAKE you perform hard labor.

I agree with you . .they can MAKE you work ..

and I'm against slave labor .. so here we are

[Spider-Dan]

Illegal immigrants aren't stamping license plates.  They are working in agriculture, landscaping, housecleaning, food service, etc.  I don't see how we could possibly "put prison inmates to work" doing all those kinds of jobs and more.  They wouldn't even be in prison at that point.

This is before we even get to the question of who profits from this work.  The idea of renting out inmates at sub-minimum-wage prices to private corporations is ridiculous.

[ArtieChokePhin]

Illegal immigrants aren't stamping license plates.  They are working in agriculture, landscaping, housecleaning, food service, etc.  I don't see how we could possibly "put prison inmates to work" doing all those kinds of jobs and more.  They wouldn't even be in prison at that point.

This is before we even get to the question of who profits from this work.  The idea of renting out inmates at sub-minimum-wage prices to private corporations is ridiculous.

They would be taken out to the work site (a farm or construction site or whatever) by a prison bus and closely monitored by armed guards.  And they wouldn't necessarily be working for sub minimum wage.  They'd get paid a decent wage.