1.8M Americans turned down jobs due to unemployment benefits
By: Will Feuer (New York Post)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
More than 1.8 million unemployed Americans have turned down jobs over the course of the pandemic because of the generosity of unemployment insurance benefits, according to a poll published Wednesday by Morning Consult.
Of those surveyed who were actively collecting unemployment benefits, 29 percent said they had turned down job offers during the pandemic, according to the poll.
And among the group who said they had passed on a job, 45 percent cited the generosity of the benefits "as a major reason why they did not accept the job offer."
The findings are based on Morning Consult's survey of a representative sample of 5,000 US adults from June 22 to June 25.
Based on the 14.1 million Americans who were collecting unemployment benefits as of the week ending June 19, the most recent figure available, Morning Consult estimated that 1.84 million Americans had passed on a job due to unemployment benefits during the pandemic.
Among the group who said they had passed on a job, 45 percent cited the generosity of unemployment benefits as the reason for turning a position down.Getty Images
"These UI recipients possess the necessary skills and experience to be offered a job in the current economy and had some level of contact with prior employers or actively applied to positions at some point during the pandemic," John Leer, Morning Consult's chief economist, said in a note.
"While health care concerns and childcare obligations are a barrier to many unemployed workers accepting jobs, these workers acknowledge that they would be employed in the absence of unemployment benefits," he added.
The figure applies to out-of-work Americans who were receiving any unemployment benefits, including traditional state unemployment as well as the federal emergency benefits that doled out an extra $300 per week and are set to end in September.
Critics said the additional unemployment benefits added up to more than what businesses could pay.Morning Consult
Those federal unemployment benefits became a sticking point for business owners, Republicans and many economists this spring as job growth failed to meet expectations amid the economic reopening, leading to a labor shortage.
Critics said the additional unemployment benefits added up to more than what businesses could pay and kept workers on the sidelines while businesses went understaffed.
According to Morning Consult's poll, 56 percent of those on unemployment said their prior income was better at covering expenses, but 23 percent and 21 percent said the unemployment checks were better or just as good as their previous pay.
Health care concerns and childcare obligations were a barrier to many unemployed workers accepting jobs.Morning Consult
At least 26 states have announced that they will pull out of the federal unemployment benefits program early to encourage a return to work, though some of those moves have been held up in court.
Leer, Morning Consult's economist, noted that the slower-than-expected job rebound is not "exclusively attributable to the generosity of unemployment benefits."
"Rather, a range of factors, in addition to unemployment benefits, contributed to slower-than-expected job creation earlier this year," he added.
At least 26 states have announced that they will pull out of the federal unemployment benefits program early to encourage a return to work.
And he added that it's not clear abruptly ending the federal unemployment benefits program would be a net positive.
"Furthermore, reducing or terminating unemployment benefits carries its own set of costs, particularly in terms of limiting personal income and consumption if employment income does not rapidly replace unemployment benefits," he said.
"While more are likely to become employed as a result of expiring unemployment benefits, the transition toward income-driven spending carries its own set of economic risks."
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Is this what it's like in Europe?
They got the same taste of government generosity that the ultra rich enjoy every day, so they decided not to work any harder than them.
All while "creating" 1.8 million jobs for other people who want them.
Thank God for the Trump vaccine!
So, in other words although Sanders lost the nomination, he won the war!
Actually, it's the people that won the war.
The pandemic changed a lot of things and the labor market is one of them. It will never be the same as the old model. People just might actually start getting paid a decent wage.
Or maybe the federal government will wise up and stop making it so damn profitable for them to sit on their damn asses instead of working.
There are still over a million women that haven't returned to the labor market and the lack of child care is one of the biggest reasons.
A huge number of workers have left the service industry for jobs in other fields that are better paying and more stable.
It is also the ''fit'' the positions open don't fit the skills available. There is a serious shortage of truck drivers. I would wager that the vast vast majority of unemployed cannot qualify for that position. They would have to have a CDL and pass a physical.
I just read that the states that first stopped the extra unemployment after 30 days didn't see any change in the employment or unemployment numbers.
Child care is a huge issue nobody seems to want to consider. School is not in session most places. Some daycares closed during Covid, and didn't reopen. Some opened with reduced capacity. If people are going to be returning to work, they're going to need childcare, and they'll need jobs that pay enough to cover that cost. If those aren't available, people can't work.
I saw an interview the other day where a professional woman (senior manager) was on three waiting lists to get her two young children, 3 and 5 into a child care facility. Until she can get them cared for she will not be returning to the work force.
One of my employees gave up the chance to have a college student watch her kids over last summer, for way less than she was paying for daycare, because the daycare wouldn't hold their places until the college student was back in class. If she had gone the cheaper route, she wouldn't have had a place for her kids last fall when schools were virtual, or before and after school once schools opened up.
There was a massive shortage of drivers before Covid. Heard of Elogs? Politicians thought they knew better; and created a law that drove many drivers into early retirement; or dispatch positions. Only politicians could think that being parked for several hours loading or unloading should count as drive hours. Most people wouldn't want to be truck drivers now- too many damn rules, regulations, and idiots to deal with on both ends. Not many people want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere when their tractor automatically shuts down because they ran out of HOS. Transportation costs are one of the main drivers of inflation.
Patience is a virtue. When their unemployment runs out they will get a job. Government just need to stop extending it.
There has been a shortage of drivers for years, it exploded during the pandemic and beyond. Much of that was the horseshit pay and the huge costs to the driver (I/O) and the treatment by many of the companies that use owner operators.
It's a field of employment that not many people want to get into anymore and it isn't because of the regs. There are numerous other reasons that have been boiling up for years.
And yes, I heard of Elogs.
As well, many who have had to stay home with their kids have developed home industries that have turned out to be profitable, so those creative persons may well have chosen their new profession over their old one.
You don't believe in working for a living? Why not?
Can you highlight the comment I made that said I didn't believe in working for a living.
Of course you can't so stop with the BS.
Uh, everyone can not be a Venture Capitalist. You do know that, right?
People are tired of income inequality (unless they make enough money for it to not stick in their craw). People want to know why we have people with so much money they can burn millions of it to go for a few minute joy ride into "space". Some on the other end of the spectrum have to beg for a 50 cents raise.
God is not happy.
God could give a shit. I mean either the mythical one many pray to; or the Federal Government that the left prays to. Look at the largest increase in wealth disparity; it occurred under the Obama administration.
If I'm receiving a paycheck without having to hassle with child care and commuting then the choice is a no brainer. It costs real money to work in the United States. Even if the job provides the same size paycheck, the costs to work means I get to keep less.
Why would I give up a definite paycheck to go back to work with no guarantee the job will be there next month? Why would I give up a full weeks pay for two days of work? Why would I give up a definite paycheck to go work for an asshole?
These unemployment benefits aren't any different than a bank bailout. Why should only Wall Street get free money?
good point
BINGO
They never should have been bailed out; especially when that money was used by larger banks/brokerages that were unstable to buy smaller more stable banks/brokerages.
Two wrongs don't make a right. No one is entitled to a free lunch. Find the best paying job; working for the most stable company; with the least asshole boss; and get the hell back to work. Those of us putting up with working the daily grind are sick of taking it on the chin. If they let the good times continue to roll they might find even more job openings as people move into the ranks of the permanently unemployed.
I have a suggestion for anyone looking to hire recalcitrant candidates: offer higher wages.
... duh...
Maybe it is time to go back to the way unemployment was handled in the past. Employment agencies would send a person to job interviews. If a person was offered a job but turned it down without a good reason, any benefits they might have been receiving were terminated.
Should the law force people to take jobs they don't want?
Kinda reminds me of debtors' prison...