I admit that I am not an economist, even though I did take a few economics courses in college.
More to the point, one needn’t be a credentialed economist, but merely a student of human nature, to understand the impact of incentives, and disincentives, on job seekers.
This was evident today as the the Bureau of Labor Statistics came out with its monthly number of jobs created and it fell far short of optimistic expectations of two million jobs. The report also was well below the consensus number of one million, and below even conservative expectations of 800,000 (just two of 79 forecasters had predictions below that 800,000 estimate).
Instead, the BLS (an acronym that some cynics suggest could be shortened to BS) announced just 266,000 new jobs. It’s worse than that raw number would suggest.
The miss was the worst since 1998 and the total jobs gain can be credited to service/entertainment jobs such as waiters and card dealers.
So, what happened? Stimulus.
When you pay people not to work, many do just that. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was out today imploring the Harris-Biden regime to stop the handouts, which are incentivizing people not to work.
Even a Federal Reserve official Neel Kashkari, conceded that the generous unemployment handouts and other stimulus measures loosely linked to COVID-19 relief are keeping workers at home playing video games rather than reporting to the workplace.
But rest assured, the pay-not-to-work agenda will continue.
Kashkari, as might be expected, ignored the obvious as provided by the BLS numbers and instead rationalized that the government largess should and must continue because the economy is not humming away at pre-virus levels.
Anecdotal evidence that people are and have been willing to take the government money in lieu of working has been readily available in news media reports of various would-be employers begging workers to take jobs.
You probably know someone – family, friends, neighbors – sitting at home until the gravy train ends. Then, they presume, they still will be able to find work. But in the interim they will have enjoyed a months-long, if not longer, vacation.
I repeat what I’ve written previously. This is human nature and it is why socialist and communist experiments all die a slow, inevitable death. Given the choice of being productive, or merely benefiting from the fruits of the labor of others, too many citizens opt for the free ride.
Today’s BLS report confirms that economic reality, although it will be ignored, as usual.
Sam Ross Jr's site 