Michael R. Strain, Columnist

Reduce Worker Shortages By Reining In Benefits

Turn the $300 unemployment supplement into a one-time re-employment bonus.

April 29, 2021 at 2:03 PM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

A restaurant needs help in Arlington, Virginia.
Photographer: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

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Anecdotes about worker shortages abound. There is the McDonald’s restaurant in Florida that is paying people $50 just to show up for an interview. Or take Jimmy John’s, the sandwich restaurant, which is offering signing bonuses to new hires. These restaurants say they need workers, and are having a hard time finding them.

Many conservatives have been quick to suggest that the reason businesses can’t find workers is the generosity of pandemic-related government income support to households, especially the $300 weekly federal supplement to standard state-provided unemployment benefits. If workers are being paid so much to remain on the sidelines, they argue, is it any surprise that businesses are struggling to find the employees they need?