, Columnist
Why Medicaid Work Requirements Won’t Work
Requiring recipients to get a job sounds like an appealing idea — until it runs into the reality of US low-wage labor market.
What works, and what doesn’t.
Photographer: Jemal Countess/Getty Images North AmericaThe US labor market is a truly astonishing thing to behold. It includes 171 million Americans, as young as 14 and older than 90, some who never finished elementary school and others with PhDs. It is resilient and dynamic, shrinking during recessions but growing again after. It provides the majority of Americans with the majority of their income.
All of which is to say: It is common to look to the labor market as a kind of salve for all economic wounds. Whatever the problem is, the solution is to get people working. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.