Last month, I wrote about how Republican politicians had glommed on to a storyline in which overly-generous unemployment benefits are dragging down the country’s economic recovery, by keeping workers from looking for or accepting available jobs. In doing so, the GOP consciously disregards powerful evidence that childcare concerns and continued worries about being sickened by the coronavirus have had a significant role in the reluctance of many workers to return to the job market.
Since then, I’ve come across a couple articles that take on this GOP contention, and that make important points beyond what I discussed. First, Paul Waldman at The Plum Line makes the important observation that in a situation where workers are not flocking to fill open positions, despite a large labor supply, “the answer is for [employers] to offer more money. That’s how supply and demand works in a market economy: When the demand for labor increases, the price of labor increases as well.” The general Republican Party unwillingness to acknowledge this possible solution to filling open positions, particularly in light of its avowed adherence to free market principles, speaks volumes about its commitment to supporting the power of business over workers at every turn.
Annie Lowrey makes some complementary points in her analysis of the recent lower-than-expected hiring numbers, noting that it is simply not healthy for the overall economy if workers with skills that merit higher pay are essentially forced to take lower-paying jobs for which they’re over-qualified. Beyond this, she notes that even if we acknowledge some role for unemployment benefits in workers’ decisions not to seek or accept open positions, this effect is disproportionately in low-wage jobs where the unemployment benefits are closer to the wages offered. But even if this is the case, she writes, the “job of the government is not to ensure a supply of workers at whatever wage rates businesses set.” Moreover, there are benefits to the overall economy if even lower-paid workers are able to take some time in finding employment that matches their skills and abilities (it’s notable that in insisting that workers take the first job they can find, Republican politicians behave as if all workers, particularly lower-paid workers, are interchangeable cogs without particular skill sets).
Finally, the mendacity if not outright depravity of the GOP’s assault on unemployment benefits in the time of covid may find its supreme illustration in the fact that various Republican governors pressing this attack actually stand to benefit personally from forcing workers to take low-wage work. As this Washington Post report documents, governors like Jim Justice of West Virginia, as well as the governors of North Dakota, New Hampshire, and Mississippi, have business interests that could benefit from the government forcing workers to take the first job that comes along. In a healthier democracy, such news would be a career-ending scandal for some of these politicos; as things are, it’s at least a powerful lens for viewing the mix of self-interest and contempt for working Americans that animates even the supposedly “populist” GOP. Taking a “principled” stand against allegedly indolent workers is even easier when you stand to make money (on top of your government salary!) by using the power of your office to berate and bully the very workers whom you serve, and some of whom even cast votes for you.