The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called on Congress Friday to terminate the additional $300 weekly unemployment benefits after Joe Biden’s poor April jobs report.
The Chamber’s Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley stated in a release:
The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market. We need a comprehensive approach to dealing with our workforce issues and the very real threat unfilled positions poses to our economic recovery from the pandemic. One step policymakers should take now is ending the $300 weekly supplemental unemployment benefit. Based on the Chamber’s analysis, the $300 benefit results in approximately one in four recipients taking home more in unemployment than they earned working.
“The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market.”
See the full statement from our EVP @NeilBradleyDC on this morning’s @BLS_gov jobs report: https://t.co/uE1557IKt3 pic.twitter.com/HIeDFwoZb5
— U.S. Chamber (@USChamber) May 7, 2021
Breitbart News’s John Carney reported that the April numbers could reflect less hiring by “enhanced unemployment benefits,” as numerous businesses say “they cannot hire enough workers to fill positions because of the government’s enhanced unemployment benefits program.”
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) echoed the Chamber’s concerns in a Thursday statement:
This labor shortage is being created in large part by the supplemental unemployment payments that the federal government provides claimants on top of their state unemployment benefits. What was intended to be a short-term financial assistance for the vulnerable and displaced during the height of the pandemic has turned into a dangerous federal entitlement, incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace.
The reaction to the Chamber’s demand to end the extra weekly benefits of $300 varied on Twitter:
The Biden Administration has discouraged schools from reopening and getting people back to work. Democrats are trying to ram through billions in taxes and trillions in wasteful spending. That’s exactly what the jobs report shows. https://t.co/ZZQ6DogVdw
— Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) May 7, 2021
Maybe the @USChamber shouldn’t have strong-armed Republicans on social issues & cozied up to Democrats who prefer to keep people on benefits in exchange for votes? Biden has already signaled he’s gonna double down on unemployment benefits. He abandoned you like we said he would. https://t.co/793Sh7ZG2x
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 7, 2021
Will intro legislation Monday when Senate returns from recess to repeal these enhanced unemployment benefits and encourage Americans to return to work. @POTUS & Dems created lucrative gov’t dependency that makes it more beneficial to stay unemployed rather than return to work. https://t.co/V8sbWEAqVh
— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) May 7, 2021
We didn’t pay people not to work. We paid people who didn’t have work. If you can’t compete with $300 a week in unemployment you shouldn’t be an employer. https://t.co/rht3A0IUDE
— The Marvelous Da7️⃣e Gonzales (@Da7e) May 7, 2021
You pushed for his election. They’re paying people not to work. I’d suggest you sit down and shut up. https://t.co/Iwov9Fx4g9
— Michael D. Brown (@MichaelBrownUSA) May 7, 2021
Hey but at least no more mean tweets amirite https://t.co/KTv7wmLQJC
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) May 7, 2021
Carney also wrote, “the U.S. economy added just 266,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.1 percent, the Labor Department said in its monthly labor assessment Friday, smashing expectations.”
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