6 reasons why Americans aren’t returning to work

[terzioglu]

The real crux of the problem isn't whether there is still free money to be had or not. All this free money, along with labor shortage, is creating a supply shortage, which in turn will create a massive hyperinflation.

I can only say the government economists are a bunch of idiots. They should have known this would be coming.

They are not idiots. Inflation was always the goal, it is not some side effect.

Regarding the "jobs" lost... well, that is because most jobs are completely meaningless and people know it. Especially most white collar ones. People were there only for the paycheck.

 

[Sig]

I'm obviously not a statistician or a numbers guy, but it really doesn't take much brain to understand that things don't add up. Suppose you have a family of four (2 adults and 2 kids under 17). That alone will entitle you to receive $11,400 through Stimulus Check. Plus states like California has been or is still issuing their own Stimulus Payments. If you and your wife lost your jobs, that would allow both of you to collect Unemployment Benefits PLUS Pandemic Unemployment Assistance from the federal government, which (if I'm not mistaken) pays a maximum of $790 per person per week. You're also allowed to receive Food Stamps. You might also be eligible to receive Rental Assistance. We can't forget the Childcare Credit either, which gives out a generous sum of $8,000 for two or more qualifying dependents. Besides all these, I'm sure there are other grants and assistance out there if you look hard enough. Hence, when all is said and done, the benefits will likely add up to a lot more than what you had made before Covid. ALL FOR FREE!

That might have explained why people wouldn't accept jobs at the hight of COVID, somewhat, doesn't really explain why people wouldn't accept jobs now. The stimulus money is long gone. The federal pandemic unemployment ended Sep 6th. Food stamps have been around for years. The child tax credit went up to $3,000, not $4,000 and if you think the cost to raise a child is less than $3,000 (or even $4,000) you've clearly never had children! At no point did all the money coming from stimulus programs allow a family of 4 to put money into savings, it was still poverty level income, so they're not living off some mythical money put aside from the vast riches the government showered on them.

Most damning to those talking points, however, are the labor participation numbers. They just don't bear out the whole "poor people are lazy and won't look for jobs because they like living on the dole" trope.