There seems to be a misconception going around that workers currently on unemployment are living in the lap of luxury, like a kid on summer vacation from school– all of the comforts, none of the work– whereas employers are struggling to find people to hire.
If you’ve ever been on unemployment (I have, multiple times), you know how absurd this is. Unemployment is a state of perpetual anxiety and desperation that often ends (temporarily) in grudgingly accepting a job that doesn’t pay enough, because you can’t find anything better.
Now the businesses that offer these jobs are complaining that nobody wants to work, which really means that nobody wants to work for them, earning less than they’re worth. Often not even enough to survive.
As stressful as unemployment is, why would somebody accept one of these jobs? Whatever happened to the principle of supply and demand? Why must workers be made so desperate for employment that they accept paltry wages, but employers desperate for workers can’t be made to pay wages that will attract them?
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin apparently doesn’t have an answer to this question, because he’s campaigning for unemployment funds to simply stop, forcing workers back into employment through desperation. It seems that people are not actually his constituents– only businesses.