I’ve written before about the perverse impact of the unemployment insurance program, and I’ve even cited how left-wing economists such as Paul Krugman and Larry Summers admit that you get more joblessness when you pay people for not working.
I’ve even shared a very good cartoon making the same point. And who can forget Nancy Pelosi’s mindless comments about unemployment benefits being a great way to stimulate job creation.
But sometimes it helps to have real-world anecdotes, and this letter-to-the-editor from a newspaper in Ohio is very educational. Here are key excerpts.
Little did I know that attempting to hire the employees needed, which I had thought to be the easiest part, would turn out to be a nightmare if not impossible. …Before 2009 if our company advertised for an open position, on average we would get 20 to 30 applications, interview six to eight of the applicants, and hire one or two, based on the quality and potential of the candidates. This process has been deteriorating dramatically since 2009 and now at the end of 2011 it has completely hit bottom. Of all the applications that we have received this year, when asked why they were seeking a job with us, one out of three answered: my unemployment is running out and I have to go back to work. Earlier this year after I hired two new full-time employees, went through our company’s orientation process, fitted them with our work clothing and booked them to start within a week, they both quit. One called ahead of the start date to apologize but wanted to inform us he would not be coming in because the government had just extended unemployment benefits again. The second one just did not show on his first day and when I called him he said he couldn’t come in now because unemployment had been extended and he was making almost as much as we were planning to start him out with. …Our government is considering extending unemployment benefits again soon. The final absurdity might be that extending unemployment is the only thing that both the Democratic and Republican majorities both agree on.
By the way, here’s a post with a similar real-world story from Detroit.
[…] I imagine this story from Michigan and this example from Ohio will ring a bell with many people because they have some relative or buddy who also has used […]
[…] I imagine this story from Michigan and this example from Ohio will ring a bell with many people because they have some relative or buddy who also has used […]
[…] Here are a couple of anecdotes, one from Ohio and one from Michigan, about the perverse impact of excessive unemployment benefits during the […]
[…] Here are a couple of anecdotes, one from Ohio and one from Michigan, about the perverse impact of excessive unemployment benefits during the […]
[…] Here are a couple of anecdotes, one from Ohio and one from Michigan, about the perverse impact of excessive unemployment benefits during the last […]
[…] the perspective of good public policy, though, the real problem with such benefits (as personalized here and here) is that they lure people into extended periods of […]
[…] But let’s close on a serious note. Comparing data from the United States and Europe also shows that government policy has a big impact on the labor market. And if you prefer anecdotes, check out this story from Michigan and this example from Ohio. […]
[…] But let’s close on a serious note. Comparing data from the United States and Europe also shows that government policy has a big impact on the labor market. And if you prefer anecdotes, check out this story from Michigan and this example from Ohio. […]
[…] Unemployment benefits will be extended, ensnaring more Americans in joblessness. […]
[…] with the exception of some posts about the harmful impact of unemployment insurance (including evidence that Paul Krugman and Larry Summers used to be on the right side before […]
[…] with the exception of some posts about the harmful impact of unemployment insurance (including evidence that Paul Krugman and Larry Summers used to be on the right side before […]
[…] Unemployment benefits are extended, ensnaring more Americans in joblessness. […]
I am aware of similar real life anecdotal evidence. A local law firm (ironically enough run by a proudly liberal Democrat) hired a paralegal who was unemployed. They got a polite email from the candidate informing them that “after doing the math” she was going to decline the offer. She was not bashful in stating that her reason was they weren’t going to be paying her enough more than unemployment. It just wasn’t worth it to her to get up and go to work for the slight pay increase. Someone in the firm got a hold of the email and forwarded it to all of their friends with appropriate commentary about the state of our government and unintended consequences due to misplaced incentives. I have heard at least one other story like that.
[…] Unemployment benefits will be extended, ensnaring more Americans in joblessness. […]
[…] better understand the points I was making, here are two good anecdotes from Ohio and […]
[…] better understand the points I was making, here are two good anecdotes from Ohio and […]
[…] better understand the points I was making, here are two good anecdotes from Ohio and […]
[…] better understand the points I was making, here are two good anecdotes from Ohio and […]
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I was very pleased to find this website. I want to to thank you for ones time for this particularly fantastic read!! I definitely enjoyed every part of it and I have you saved to fav to check out new things on your web site.
The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesn’t disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, Yes, it was my choice to read through, but I really believed you’d have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of crying about something you can fix if you were not too busy looking for attention.
[…] unemployment insurance and joblessness, this research should help. But you may also want to share this real-world story. And here’s another powerful […]
[…] Source: https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/real-world-evidence-showing-that-unemployment-insura… […]
[…] Source: https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/real-world-evidence-showing-that-unemployment-insura… […]
[…] evidence, I wanna share this editorial: Hat Tip Dan Mitchell Last year the demand for our construction services, to our delight, was as they say “going […]
[…] Source: https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/real-world-evidence-showing-that-unemployment-insura… […]
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[…] Source: https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/real-world-evidence-showing-that-unemployment-insura… […]
Sometimes unemployment benefit recipients even augment their undeclared minimum wage jobs with unemployment benefits! I know people who put down unrealistic employers so they can keep drawing unemployment benefits.
I agree with Peter Krieger. Sometimes people are not hiring or the market is flooded with applicants and a well-intentioned hard working unemployed fellow is stuck. In such a case its a choice between a pay cut and working as a greeter at Wal*Mart and looking for jobs full time. I think unemployment can be a life saver and it is worthwhile despite the leaches that might live off the system.
Unfortunately, there are some cases where individuals, due to age and physical impairment cannot find suitable work.
The prospect of easily finding a position at any age is difficult in this economy; once a person hits a certain age, the hidden discrimination hits; no one wants you if there are younger applicants available. Sad fact of life.
[…] a continuation of the payroll tax cut and an extension of unemployment insurance (which, btw, only worsens unemployment), all paid for by increasing taxes on those evil rich folks. The Republicans, on the other hand, […]
[…] a continuation of the payroll tax cut and an extension of unemployment insurance (which, btw, only worsens unemployment), all paid for by increasing taxes on those evil rich folks. The Republicans, on the other hand, […]
An even bigger problem, perhaps the biggest problem faced by our country, is that the lib/progs and the RINOs in our government have spearheaded now 50 years of subsidizing illigitimacy and the fragmentation of the family. Nothing has been as transformative or as destructive to the American experiment of whether man can govern himself as that. No external threat is as great. No jihadist rhetoric, no ilegal invasion, no Iranian EMP, no terror exporting dictatorship, no environmental debacle has done or is capable of doing as much damage as the last 50 years of this policy. All of those threats we would survive and grow stronger from. The lib/prog program of undernmining the familly “for the children” while robbing the children of the support of the family has destroyed far more children and far more Americans than anything else on earth.
Common sense. Subsidize what you want more of (unemployment insurance) and tax what you want less of (income tax). RonPaul2012!!!