Democrats off base on big spending to get people back to work
Something is wrong with the economy. According to the Labor Department, businesses posted a record-high 10.9 million job openings in July. But despite this unprecedented number of open positions, the economy added only 235,000 net new jobs in August, nearly half a million fewer than economists had expected.
How can there be so many job openings yet so few people willing to take those jobs?
It’s not that employers aren’t raising wages; they are. Average hourly earnings rose at a 6.9% annual rate in August. These gains were concentrated where they are needed most, in the low-skill jobs companies are having the hardest time finding willing workers.
Part of the problem in filling vacancies might be that inflation is rising faster than pay, which means a decline in real wages. Thanks in large part to President Joe Biden’s spending spree, the economy is suffering from inflation rates not seen in more than a decade. Work is simply less enticing when inflation eats away at your paycheck.
Work is even less appealing when the government is offering historically high benefits to the unemployed. Since March 2020, people who don't work have been given a weekly bonus check, first $600 and later $300, from the federal government, which is to say from current and future taxpayers. While that program finally expired this past Monday, Biden has also boosted food stamp benefits by 25%.
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A trillion here and a trillion there and pretty soon you are talking about real inflation. Cut the benefits and get people back to work.
See, also:
Job Openings Surge to Record High While Hiring Stays Flat
And:
Supply Disruptions and Bidenflation Afflict Economy, Fed’s Beige Book Says
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