The persistent—and false—claims that unemployment benefits are keeping people from looking for work are being turned into policy in two states, while unexpectedly weak job creation numbers from April shook up discussions of the economy and highlighted the need for Congress to pass President Joe Biden’s infrastructure and jobs plan—and not only that. “As we see continued evidence that women and working parents have been hit hardest in the economy, we must invest in human infrastructure with the American Families Plan,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
But that’s not the Republican instinct. The governors of Montana and South Carolina have announced that their states will start rejecting the federal benefits expansion in late June. “What was intended to be a short-term financial assistance for the vulnerable and displaced during the height of the pandemic has turned into a dangerous federal entitlement, incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said.
The problem with that statement is that it’s false, and you can find both data and anecdata to show as much. Bosses are out there whining that they can’t find enough workers, but they’re not raising wages—and when they do, they see applications soar.
News of a much lower than expected jobs number for April—266,000 rather than what was expected to be close to a million, plus a downgrade in the March numbers—startled economic observers on Friday, and unsurprisingly, many of the people claiming that workers just don’t want to go back to work took it as confirmation of their existing views. But the unemployment rate ticked up slightly because labor force participation rate rose, with 430,000 people coming back to look for work. Once again we see the strains the pandemic is placing on women, with men accounting for gains in labor force participation while the number of women went down.
Many of the claims that people would rather stay home collecting unemployment than take jobs have centered on the restaurant industry, so it’s interesting that the leisure and hospitality industries were high points in this jobs report, adding 331,000 jobs—187,000 of them in food services and drinking places. “In sum,” economist Heidi Shierholz tweeted, “today’s data show that leisure and hospitality has gotten tighter, but still suggest that the claims of labor shortages in restaurants are largely the result of frustration on the part of restaurants that they can’t find workers to fill jobs at relatively low wages.”
Expanded unemployment benefits have been a lifeline to millions of people through the coronavirus pandemic. Governors cutting off those benefits before the economy has fully recovered shows the determination to blame workers—mostly low-paid workers, at that—for the state of an economy heavily tilted to corporations and the wealthiest people. It’s wrong, but it’s also not a surprise coming from the likes of Gianforte and McMaster. Look for more of the same from Republicans eager to “move on” by hurting workers.
But that’s not the Republican instinct. The governors of Montana and South Carolina have announced that their states will start rejecting the federal benefits expansion in late June. “What was intended to be a short-term financial assistance for the vulnerable and displaced during the height of the pandemic has turned into a dangerous federal entitlement, incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said.
The problem with that statement is that it’s false, and you can find both data and anecdata to show as much. Bosses are out there whining that they can’t find enough workers, but they’re not raising wages—and when they do, they see applications soar.
News of a much lower than expected jobs number for April—266,000 rather than what was expected to be close to a million, plus a downgrade in the March numbers—startled economic observers on Friday, and unsurprisingly, many of the people claiming that workers just don’t want to go back to work took it as confirmation of their existing views. But the unemployment rate ticked up slightly because labor force participation rate rose, with 430,000 people coming back to look for work. Once again we see the strains the pandemic is placing on women, with men accounting for gains in labor force participation while the number of women went down.
Many of the claims that people would rather stay home collecting unemployment than take jobs have centered on the restaurant industry, so it’s interesting that the leisure and hospitality industries were high points in this jobs report, adding 331,000 jobs—187,000 of them in food services and drinking places. “In sum,” economist Heidi Shierholz tweeted, “today’s data show that leisure and hospitality has gotten tighter, but still suggest that the claims of labor shortages in restaurants are largely the result of frustration on the part of restaurants that they can’t find workers to fill jobs at relatively low wages.”
Expanded unemployment benefits have been a lifeline to millions of people through the coronavirus pandemic. Governors cutting off those benefits before the economy has fully recovered shows the determination to blame workers—mostly low-paid workers, at that—for the state of an economy heavily tilted to corporations and the wealthiest people. It’s wrong, but it’s also not a surprise coming from the likes of Gianforte and McMaster. Look for more of the same from Republicans eager to “move on” by hurting workers.