'Cutting off unemployment benefits early may even have resulted in GOP governors’ harming their own economies — a telling example of how ideology can be trumped by hard reality.' From columnist hiltzikm:
“We don’t have a work ethic problem, but a care infrastructure and healthcare risk problem,” says Rebecca Dixon, executive director of the National Employment Law Project.
Until Sept. 6, the government’s enhanced unemployment benefits papered over those persistent issues. But it’s gone now, even though the problems remain.Government statistics point to a sharply improving job market, though one that still hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic. says, nonfarm employment had risen by 17.0 million since April 2020 but remained lower by about 5.3 million, or 3.5%, from February 2020, the last month before the pandemic struck.
Where did the gains go instead of workers’ pockets? To corporate profits. Federal statistics show that, from 1994 through 2020, after-tax corporate profits increased nearly sevenfold, but labor’s share of the nonfarm economy fell by nearly 5%.Unemployment programs are popular, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic, but they’ve remained the target of conservatives’ attack, based on the faulty premise that they contribute to worker indolence and malingering.
, indicated that job growth was somewhat more robust in states that maintained the federal benefits than in states that cut them off.Cutting off unemployment benefits early may even have resulted in GOP governors’ harming their own economies — a telling example of how ideology can be trumped by hard reality.
To them, ending unemployment benefits was all about forcing workers to take the crummy jobs they had on offer. But if some 9 million Americans and their families suddenly have much less in spending money, what do they expect will happen to traffic in their restaurants, hotels and retail shops?
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