NC Could be the Latest State to Join the Movement to End Federal Unemployment Assistance

A Bill to end the Federal Unemployment Assistance program that has kept many of Americans afloat during this pandemic, and for some, it provided more income than they would have had if the pandemic happened at all, but now that the vaccine is being mass distributed and, employers are claiming their is a worker "shortage", and republican law makers, like Senator Chuck Edwards, believe that the pandemic is mostly behinds us and that our economy should not be stuck a Covid levels. He ended his statement by saying, "Now is not the time to being paying people more to not work." 

Last month, Edwards pitched the idea to pay people $1,500 for accepting a new job within 60 days of it becoming law, however, the idea didn't catch. With his new Bill, work search requirements would be stricter requiring job seekers to respond to an interview request within 48 hours, schedule an interview with 7 days of an interview request, and attend any re-employment activities for associated with the interview. Many democratic law makers in the state believe that Cooper will veto the bill releasing the following statement: 

“Unemployment continues to decline as more North Carolinians get vaccinated and back to work. This legislation falls far short on helping remove barriers like affordable child care, while hurting people who are looking for jobs and removing money from our economy which is being used for things like buying groceries and paying rent.”

Once the bill hit's Cooper's desk officially, he will have 10 days to veto or sign off on the bill before it automatically becomes law.  

My Two Cents

Almost half the country has gotten rid of the Federal Unemployment Assistance in order to force people back to work, and to put it plainly, it's wrong for several reason with I'll get into right now. 

Pay was Terrible Before the Pandemic

The first reason I think it's wrong for states to end the pandemic assistance is because a lot of Americans were making crappy pay at jobs they only hated because they weren't getting paid well. Some might have even just wanted benefits, but the point is that there were a lot of unhappy people working jobs that they felt they deserved more money for, and what are those people supposed to do? Should they ask for a raise? Should they look for a new job? 

Asking for a raise is a dangerous proposition because if the boss feels like you might be looking for a new job, the boss might start looking for your replacement and will most likely find a replacement before you find a new job. Most states are employment at will states which means that you or your employer can terminate your employment for any reason, so asking for a raise can be a gamble. 

Looking for a new job sounds like a good idea, but it doesn't guarantee you'll find anything or find anything with the benefits and pay you need. The average American, before the pandemic, could spend up to 12-14 weeks looking for a new job and during that time, you're either unemployed or stuck at a job you hate until something changes. I was there, I know. I hated recruiting and despite my best efforts find new jobs, or better paying opportunities, it didn't always happen, and mostly it was because of the salary I was looking for. 

Most people know exactly how much money they need to get by each month and employers put arbitrary numbers on jobs because they don't stop to consider that just because Sally only needs $12/hr. that Michelle can get by on the same pay. That logic doesn't track because Sally might be living at home rent free with her parents while Michelle is a single mom with a kid who needs daycare. $12/hr. isn't going to get it for Michelle, so she either has to take a second job, find a better paying job, but at the end of the day, someone is going to blame Michelle for her situation. 

Michelle is a fictional character, but she's done all she can to find new jobs and going back to college is wildly expensive for people without kids, and even more so for people with children. All I'm saying here is that people need and deserve more pay; these employers and law makers pushing people to come back to work for less than they are making on unemployment doesn't make any sense considering most people should have been making $2k per month at minimum. 

Businesses aren't the economy, people are

The next reason I think it's wrong is because it sides with the businesses. Far too many business owners are successful for one reason: they don't pay their workers fair wages. Now I know some will say that employers are only going by the law, but what's legal and what's ethical are two different things.

Employers are more than willing to offer someone a job making $9/hr., but if the employer was to be offered a job making $9/hr. we all know they would turn it down in a heartbeat because they wouldn't be able to survive off of that which is the main reason I don't think law makers should take their side on this. 

For years, law makers have taken the side business because they want the "economy" to grow and get bigger, but one thing they aren't realizing is that there is no economy without the middle and lower classes. If all the underpaid workers in this country just decided to stop working business would lose tons of revenue, so the truth is that we are the economy. We, the consumer and the employee, make the economy work and without us, there is no economy. I know some might challenge the idea, but people working in corporate offices are just as underpaid as the people working hourly. Could you imagine if Walmart had to shut down nationwide because employees from top to bottom decided they weren't going to work until everyone in the company has a living wage and benefits? 

Point is this, now is an opportunity for law makers to help close the wage gap by forcing employers to pay more, and I believe the pandemic assistance is doing just that. It's forcing employers to get competitive with their pay, but the resistance comes from the fact that they don't want their pure profit to go down. They all say the cost of stuff will go up if they raise wages, but the truth is the only reason it will go up is so that people at the top can maintain their pure profits. 

For instance, if Amazon were making $100 million in pure profit and then had to raise their wages, they wouldn't see less revenue, they would see less of that $100 million pure profit on the backend which is what those companies use to entice new investors and buy back stocks to help the company look it's best profitability wise. In order to keep that $100 million, Amazon would increase their Prime price and the price of their goods to pass along that rising cost of workers to employees when they were literally already making billions.