https://finance.yahoo.com/news/states-soon-stop-sending-300-230039411.html
In order to fight the economic destruction caused by Trump and the Republicans due to their incompetent handling of the coronavirus, Joe Biden and the Democrats passed the $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan (no thanks to conservatives). One of the important features of the bill is the boost to unemployment insurance that gives each person an additional $300 per week. In addition to tax breaks that make the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits tax free, the $300 per week is set to continue till Labor Day.
The $300/week extended unemployment benefits act as a lifeline for millions of people who are still unemployed and struggling to pay their bills. But not if certain conservative governors get their way.
Early last month when a (single) jobs report showed fewer people hired than expected, conservatives were outraged that Biden’s unemployment benefits were to blame.
Typical of this thinking, naturally, was Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market.”
https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/R000603/votes-missed/116
Republican politicians immediately picked up this completely pro-business nonsense and expanded on it. Rep David Rouzer (R-N.C.) tweeted an image of a Hardee’s restaurant that had apparently closed because of a staffing shortages. “This is what happens when you extend unemployment benefits for too long and add a $1,400 stimulus payment to it. Right when employers need workers to fully open back up, few can be found.”
https://www.qsrweb.com/news/closed-due-to-no-staff-hardees-sign-sets-off-twitter-storm/
Not to be outdone in this slander on American workers and unemployment benefits was Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House Leader. McCarthy tweeted that Democrats, “have demonized work so Americans would become dependent on big government.”
Republican politicians at all levels must believe that their constituents, the people living in their very conservative states, are completely lazy and worthless. So lazy in fact, that the whip of poverty and lash of desperation must be forced on them to make them work.
In particular, Republican governors were so alarmed that they decided that in order to save their constituents from the horror of, “becoming dependent upon the government” they would have to do something drastic. So they did!
Keep in mind that the states administer the unemployment benefits, but all the money to pay for them comes from the federal government. It is free money for those states. Keep in mind also, that this is going to affect about 4 million workers in half the states of our country.
It is worth noting that the 25 governors who have decided not to allow their constituents to continue receiving enhanced unemployment benefits until Labor Day are all conservatives - conservatives from deep red states. And it is no coincidence that many of them are very poor. States like Mississippi, South Carolina, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Tennessee have never been known for their strong economies and great wealth.
Is it true that unemployment benefits, enhanced or otherwise, are to blame for companies not being able to hire workers? Conservative governors seem to believe that if people are not desperate and impoverished, they just won’t work. So, maybe it is.
No. It’s an asinine idea promoted by stupid conservative governors who are solidly pro-business (mostly pro-big business) and who don’t care and don’t understand the situation of ordinary working people.
If enhanced unemployment benefits don’t stop people from working why is that employers still can’t find people to hire? Why aren’t they available.
Here are but some of the real reasons:
-They’re dead!!
We have just come through the worst viral pandemic in one hundred years. The official death toll from Covid-19 in the United States is 602,805, the highest in the world. Moreover, it may not be the actual number, as there is new evidence that the toll may be much higher.
However the measurement is made, it is obvious that a lot of people have been taken out of the work force by the coronavirus. Add to this the number of people who have not died but suffer from lingering illnesses or a weakened condition (enough to make many jobs too much to handle) as well those who must stay home to take care of sick relatives, and you have a fairly substantial amount of the workforce that is not there or not available for hire.
-They don’t want to die, and are afraid to return because they might become infected with Covid-19.
Stupid conservative politicians and the Chamber of Commerce crowd just can’t seem to grasp this simple fact: employers, especially the ones in service companies like restaurants and retailing, can’t fill positions because people are too worried that they will get Covid-19.
Notice the double punch there: getting or spreading the coronavirus.
Ordinary working people have very good reasons to fear both of these. Many states are trying to force people back to work because their economies depend so heavily on tourism and other service work. And yet, these same states, mostly the poor ones in the south, do not help their workers to either avoid the disease, or spreading it, by creating safe working environments.
No, it’s not laziness. Ordinary people are scared - and they got a right to be.
-They have got to stay home and take care of the kids.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/10/22/coronavirus-women-leaving-jobs-droves-amid-child-care-crisis/3727447001/
American companies have never really done much to support help with child care. In Europe people have paid child care leave that is mandated by law, for both men and women. In America, you do your best in the juggling act of day care, after school care, private baby sitters and relatives.
Since the Republican Pandemic forced the closure of many of our schools parents have had an especially difficult struggle to find someone to take care of kids. The result is that many people are either taking care of kids while they work from home, or they just have to quit work, live on less, and take care of the kids on their own.
If companies insist employees no longer work from home, or take a new job that requires them to be on site, many people just won’t be able to do it. Particularly if schools are not free to open up immediately, then some parents will just have to stay home. Period, no discussion. And no, we can’t just assume that all schools will magically open up come next September.
The always pressing need for child care is actually one the greatest impediments to companies being able to hire employees. According the Census Household Pulse survey, the biggest reason adults can’t return to the workforce is because they still need to stay at home with their kids while they take online classes. According to the late March surveys, 6.33 million people were not working because they had to take care of their children at home.
-They’re holding out for a fair deal.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/fck5xa/2020_us_minimum_wage_by_state/
If employers can’t get people to work for them they they should try paying them more.
I think that one of the things that the Republican Pandemic has exposed is the unbelievably low rate of pay that many employees get, especially in the deep red conservative states of the south.
The Washington Post lays out pretty clearly a good case for workers of all types holding out for better wages before going to work, “Before the pandemic, the state of hourly work was fossilized by a federal minimum wage standard that hasn’t budged in more than a decade along with real wages that haven’t moved in over 40 years.”
Get that? A lousy minimum wage that hasn’t been raised in more than 10 years (the longest period ever) and wages that have stagnated for … 40 years! And, by the way, let’s not forget that this does not apply to gig workers. God only knows how much they actually make after the paltry “self employment income” is reduced by their gig expenses.
Not surprisingly, companies that are feeling desperate for workers (which is not the same as the desperation you feel when you don’t earn enough to cover all your bills) are offering more money. It’s nothing really great - a couple of dollars more per hour or a “sign up” bonus of some amount of money.
It ain’t gonna help. A small increase in a pathetically low minimum wage job, or a few extra bucks to continue doing a dead-end job in stressful or unsafe working conditions, is not going to bring back people who know they need to hold out for a different job or a better one.
Make no mistake about what is happening: the governors in these Reactionary Republican states know that Joe Biden’s unemployment benefits are what is making it possible for their people to continue to hold out longer so that they can look for a better job or take care of the kids, or just avoid working in an unsafe environment. And that is why they are cutting off the enhanced unemployment benefits - to starve people back to work at the lowest possible cost to employers (i.e., campaign donors?).
To any progressive this is both immoral and stupid. Although the Reactionary Republican governors in the deep red states really seem to believe that their people are too lazy to work, it is just not true.
Economics and common decency dictate that people should be treated fairly and with concern for their welfare. They should not be impoverished and demonized just so employers can pick up some still cheap, easily exploited labor.
Vote progressive - fight exploitation by Reactionary conservatives. Remember, they want to force people to endanger their lives for lousy wages just so companies can go back to business as usual. And just because this happens mainly in conservatives southern states doesn’t mean that they won’t try and make happen in other states if they get the chance.
This is America: everybody should get a (fair) piece of the action and everybody should get an even break. Organize Democratic, vote Democratic, win Democratic.