[dingusthemingus]

Fed govt set aside cash during covid pandemic to give extra funds to people on unemployment. At the beginning of the pandemic all the states particapated, but not anymore.

Critics have accused the fed govt of irresponsibly rolling this out as the economy has rebounded, and now you have many states where businesses are struggling to find workers who want to apply for these low income jobs because unemployment + 300$(fed govt bonus) + tax benfifits > low income job. So basically 21 states stopped giving unemployed people that extra 300$, and surprise surprise, american workers are rational and more of them elected to go back to work compared to the states that still distribute that 300$.

Basically this isnt surprising, but people on the far right want to gut bloated unemployment programs and far left wants universal income + bigger welfare for nonemployed americans, and this is playing out in Washington DC now and in states accross the US who arent one party states.

There are a number of reasons why someone loses unemployment eligbability, time being one of those as you alluded to. Varies state by state.

I beleive some states like NY and Cali have extended unemployment benfifits to like September, other states probably vary.

[lumost]

The economics of this situation are pretty complex. The short-term benefits may also be forcing employers to raise long-term wages to compensate. The long-term wage increases for low-income jobs may result in lower usage of other government programs such as food stamps, and housing assistance.

I passed by a giant sign next to a McDonalds offering $17/hr starting wage for McDonald's employees at a roadside operation in Western Mass.

[dingusthemingus]

I dont think anyone likes the fact that US minimum wage is so low. Seeimg the higher wage offers has been pleasant, but not being able to go in restaurants because they have been unable to hire enough staff hasnt been.

Mcdonalds + Amazon wont be a victim of minumum wage laws, they advocate for high minumum wages, as less productive chains and small businesses with smaller margins will have to die off to allow for more mcdonalds and amazon.

It is sad how expensive some parts of the country are, and the minimum wage "should" be higher, but ive seen economists say raising minum wage hurts low income earners looking for their first job (disproportionatly bipoc people), increases prices for everything, increases govt beurocracy, and simply doesnt work as a simple fix.

[nerdponx]

And that's $17/hr * 40hrs * 50weeks = $34,000 / year. A single person could be comfortable on that kind of money, but they won't exactly living the luxury life either. I think that's a pretty reasonable baseline for a full-time-employed resident of the USA.

[fzzzy]

You're just missing one thing -- there is no way in hell mcdonalds will ever give you 40 hours a week.

[nerdponx]

Good point. The best case scenario is that you can make a decent living for a single person on $17/hr. The more realistic scenarios are uglier.

Point being: we need to stop thinking of $15/hr as a high hourly wage.

[lumost]

This Mcdonalds had a rather extensive line, I wouldn't be surprised if they're paying overtime to keep serving customers.