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Biden vowed that he would fix the system so that Americans cannot “game the system” and receive unemployment benefits unless it is truly deserved, according to Fox Business.
“We’re going to make it clear to anyone collecting unemployment who is offered a suitable job they must take the job or lose their unemployment benefits,” Biden stated.
“We’ll insist that the law is followed with respect to benefits, but we’re not going to turn our backs on our fellow Americans.”
“Twenty-two million people lost their jobs in this pandemic, through no fault of their own.”
“For many of those folks, unemployment benefits are a lifeline.”
“The White House is also in denial that many businesses – both small and large – can’t find the workers they need…because the benefits are discouraging work,” Rep. Kevin Brady said.
From The Daily Wire:
Biden said his administration is taking steps that will make it easier for employers to hire more workers, including accelerating aid for hard-hit child care providers, expanding states’ reemployment services and beginning to distribute $350 billion in aid to state and local governments as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief law passed earlier this year.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that employers added just 266,000 jobs last month, well below the consensus 1 million forecast by most economists.
Republican lawmakers were quick to blame the supplemental jobless aid for one of the biggest downside misses on record, with Rep. Kevin Brady, the ranking member on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, accusing the Biden administration of “sabotaging our recovery.”
A recent Bank of America analyst note estimated that 4.6 million workers exited the labor force during the pandemic – and only half are expected to rejoin by the end of the year. For workers earning less than $32,000 annually, it’s more financially lucrative to collect government aid, the analyst note said.
The bank predicted that 2.5 million Americans will rejoin the workforce by the fall, but estimated the remaining 2.1 people may be slower to go back to work – or may never rejoin the labor market at all. Another 700,000 Americans, meanwhile, are expected to have left the workforce due to a mismatch between their skillset and that required by the job.
