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Andy Puzder, former managing director of CKE Restaurants, looks at supply chain issues, skyrocketing shipping and transportation costs, and issues plaguing restaurants.
Contrary to what we hear from the Biden administration, the solution to our labor market problems does not lie in massive public spending designed to create jobs. There are already 10.9 million openings, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but only 7.7 million people are actively looking for work. As a result, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to fill these openings, which is why the employment figures are so dismal.
Simply put, the problem is a shortage of workers, not a shortage of job vacancies. Neither government spending to create more jobs nor government spending that discourages work will solve this problem.
On the contrary, as the dismal August and September employment figures show, such spending makes the problem worse. While President Biden may not see it, Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., does. Last month he noted that “We have 11 million jobs that we haven’t filled, 8 million people are still unemployed. Something is wrong here.”
Indeed.
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh argues that the dismal employment report was due to the Delta variant, which affected economic activity and, therefore, job growth.
At his press conference following the release of the disappointing September jobs report (194,000 jobs created, 500,000 projected) on Friday, Biden said the unemployment rate drop to 4.8% was a sign of reprise. Unfortunately, it is not the case.
AMERICAN ECONOMY ADDS 194K JOBS IN SEPTEMBER, MISSING ESTIMATES
The unemployment rate is only less than 4.8% because the labor force, that is, the number of people who are working or actively looking for work, is near historic lows. Again, the problem is the labor shortage. In September, 183,000 people left the labor market and the participation rate fell to 61.6%. If the labor participation rate was 63.3%, the rate we had under President Trump in February 2020, unemployment in September would have been a daunting 7.3%.
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh acknowledges that the September jobs report shows “there is no doubt” that “we still have work to do.”
Yet rather than programs that encourage people to return to work, Biden and his Democratic allies want to increase government spending, much of which will expand or create new government rights that will further discourage people from working. We are talking about huge – massive – spending increases.
ALFREDO ORTIZ: LATEST JOBS BRING MORE AMERICANS TO THE EVIDENCE THAT FALLS UNDER BIDEN AND UNFORESEEN EXPENSES WILL BE CATASTROPHIC
In addition to the $ 5.3 trillion we spent on a bipartisan basis during the pandemic and the $ 1.9 trillion Democrats unilaterally allowed in March, Biden and the Democrats now want to pass an additional $ 1100 billion bill. billion dollars on “human infrastructure” and a 3.5 trillion dollars (5.5 trillion dollars) bill. correctly noted) extravagant spending with government benefits from cradle to grave.
Cornerstone Macro Co-Founder and Chief Economist Nancy Lazar discusses falling unemployment rate at “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street”
Why? Even assuming that Biden’s big government spending actually created new jobs, who would take them? It does not make sense to spend massive sums to create jobs when we already have nearly 11 million vacant positions. It makes absolutely no sense to simultaneously discourage work.
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Wages are not the problem. Annual salaries rose an impressive 4.6% in September and have increased by impressive percentages throughout the year. Granted, even at this rate of increase, wages can’t keep pace with the inflation Biden’s policies create, but employers are willing to pay for workers. The problem is, they just can’t find them.
Biden’s attempt to blame COVID for dismal job postings ignores the fact that COVID numbers have been incorporated into economists’ projections for August and September, and the actual number of jobs has fallen embarrassingly below those. expectations impacted by COVID. Even taking COVID into account, the numbers were really bad.
President Biden delivers remarks on September jobs report
What Biden and the Democrats seem to be missing is that encouraging people not to work isn’t just bad for the economy, it’s bad for them.
At this point, some young Americans may prefer to sit in their parents’ basements and receive government checks after an 18-month pandemic. But is it really in their best interests that the government continue to encourage them to live off what others produce?
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Wouldn’t it make more sense to encourage these people to realize their potential, achieve financial independence and earn the dignity and self-respect that come with a job? There was a time when both sides saw this as an honorable goal. President Bill Clinton and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich have made this notion an integral part of our welfare system.
Biden and the progressive wing of his party would reverse this policy. But dependence on government is not the way out of poverty. It just makes it permanent.
President Biden, if you want to lift people out of poverty, if you want better jobs numbers, if you want people to succeed and become self-sufficient, please stop the government spending madness!
It is time we all got back to work.
Andy Puzder was Managing Director of CKE Restaurants for over 16 years, after a career as a lawyer. He is currently Senior Fellow at Pepperdine University School of Public Policy. He was appointed by President Trump to the post of US Secretary of Labor. In 2011, Puzder co-wrote “Job creation: how it really works and why the government does not understand it. “His latest book is”The Return of Capitalism: Trump’s Boom and the Left’s Plot to Stop It“(Rue du Center, April 24, 2018).
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