Unemployment Benefits Causing Economic Catastrophe!

[Icarus]

This has been the same song and dance coming from Right Wing propaganda for quite some time now, and with news that employers are having a difficult time trying to find workers they've taken this as evidence that their claims are correct. I just listened to Erick Erickson on the radio claim that companies are trying to compete with government subsides. This is such horse crap. I doubt there is a single American who is collecting money from unemployment benefits because he doesn't want to go back to work. How do I know? Because companies can deny them those benefits if they refuse to return to work. These damned morons in Republicanlandia don't seem interested in being educated on any subject they discuss.

If 10 of my workers are laid off because of COVID, their unemployment insurance, which they've been paying into, affords them unemployment benefits while they are out of work. However, those benefits are only available if they lost their job due to no fault of their own and they're able and trying to work. In no scenario is it possible for them to remain on unemployment benefits if their company tells them to come back to work. Companies can and do block their unemployment benefits when this happens.

The real reason people aren't running back to work is because of COVID. A recent poll revealed this to be the #1 reason why people who quit their jobs are waiting to return after a larger percentage of the population has been vaccinated. They're not living off of "government subsidies." They're living mostly off of their own nest eggs. https://www.uschamber.com/report/poll-t ... unemployed

These same idiots on Right Wing radio have been telling us for decades that a $15 minimum wage is going to kill businesses because they already pay as much as they can afford to pay. But that is refuted by recent events as employers EVERYWHERE are offering substantial wage increases just to lure in workers. But more and more people are deciding to work from home, start their own business, shop around for better jobs, etc. This is wonderful news for the labor market and a happy accident resulting from the pandemic as millions hit the pause button and decided to reevaluate where they want to be. It goes to prove what we've known all along. Companies CAN pay their workers more but they choose not to.

[Some Schmo]

Absolutely. Workers have become more and more efficient over time, which has only raised profits for those at the top. Profit margins have been steadily rising for years now, because the relative labor cost keeps shrinking. Most businesses can certainly afford more; they just don't want to lose the profits they're now used to making.

I heard that something like 30% of the restaurant labor pre-COVID have switched jobs. People have realized they can make comparable wages doing something else that doesn't involve assholes treating you like low class citizens and tipping like crap. Good for them. I know exactly what they're talking about. Some people walk into restaurants and turn into complete turds. I lasted about a year as a server in my early twenties. After a while, I started telling people what I really think. That's not a good thing for a waiter to do, but I refused to be condescended to by someone because they happen to have 10 bucks for lunch.