Biden says workers can’t refuse job offer to keep getting unemployment benefits
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- President Joe Biden said that his administration will make sure that “you can’t refuse [a suitable] job and just keep getting the unemployment benefits.”
- Biden threatened those who will “game the system” will “lose their unemployment benefits.”
- Some business owners complained they can’t find enough workers who want to come back to work.
President Joe Biden announced that he will make sure that workers offered a “suitable” job either grab it or lose the COVID-19 federal unemployment benefits.
“The law is clear: if you’re receiving unemployment benefits and you’re offered a suitable job, you can’t refuse that job and just keep getting the unemployment benefits,” the president said Monday. “No one should be allowed to game the system and we will insist that the law is followed.”
It was not mentioned how the present rules could be implemented more strictly. States administer unemployment benefits and many are bedeviled by notoriously outdated and inefficient computer systems, the New York Post reported.
“Let’s not take our eye off the ball. Families who are just trying to put food on the table, keep a roof over their head, they aren’t the problem,” President Biden said.
During her daily briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki that the unemployment benefits were not the reason for disappointing job numbers.
“We don’t see evidence that extra unemployment insurance is a major driver in people not rejoining the workforce,” Psaki told reporters.
Biden said the nation’s economy was moving in the “right direction” despite job growth moving slowly. The president has called on Congress to pass the $4 trillion economic plan for infrastructure and “families.”
The president also said that companies that suffered massive losses due to the pandemic lockdowns and are still struggling could be the reason why workers cannot go back with higher pay.
“My expectation is that as our economy comes back, these companies will provide fair wages and safe work environments,” Biden said. “And if they do, they’ll find plenty of workers, and we’re all going to come out of this together better than before.”
A federal report on Friday revealed slower than anticipated jobs growth in April. The US added just 266,000 new jobs — far below estimates of around 1 million as the economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Post report, the US Chamber of Commerce called on the government to stop the $300 weekly federal unemployment benefits before September.
But Biden insisted that the benefits aren’t to blame for the disappointing jobs report.
“The idea that they don’t want to work? Most middle class, working class people that I know think the way my dad did… A job is a lot more than a paycheck. He’d say, ‘Joey, it’s about your respect, your dignity, your place in the community,’ ” the president said.
According to a study conducted by the University of Chicago, 42 percent of people getting unemployment benefits earn more than they did before the pandemic.
Source: New York Post
