Stossel: Stop Calling It a ‘Labor Shortage.’ It’s an Incentive Shortage

t’s no secret that US businesses are struggling to find workers. Recent surveys have shown that small businesses are reporting record job openings.

Article by Jon Miltimore from FEE.

Many have described the phenomenon as a labor shortage.

“Walk outside: labor shortage is the pervasive phenomenon,” economist Lawrence Summers recently observed at a conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Economist Lawrence Summers said the Biden administration's juiced-up unemployment benefits have created a record labor shortage.

It was “an unforced error,” Summers said. “If we give people more money for not working…then they’re going to stay on the sidelines.” pic.twitter.com/eCyTW1CXKw

— Jon Miltimore (@miltimore79) May 5, 2021

At first glance, calling what the US is experiencing a labor shortage—as I recently did—makes perfect sense. After all, there are millions of job openings, which means there are not enough qualified job candidates to fill the market’s employment demands. That’s pretty close to a textbook definition of a labor shortage.

An Incentive Shortage, Not a Labor Shortage

It’s wrong, however. And John Stossel recently pointed out why.

“America has a record 8.1 million job openings,” Stossel noted at Reason. “The media call it a ‘labor shortage.’ But it’s not a labor shortage; it’s an incentive shortage.”

There’s plenty of labor, Stossel correctly pointed out. But the juiced-up unemployment benefits, which pay unemployed workers an additional $300 a week on top of their state unemployment benefits, have resulted in a perverse incentive.

“The American Rescue Plan, passed in March, increased unemployment payments by hundreds of dollars and extended them for up to 73 weeks,” Stossel pointed out. “Given the cost of commuting, etc., many people find they are better off financially not working.”

Indeed, one need not even factor in the costs of commuting. In many states, workers are taking a pay cut to go back to work.

So it’s no surprise that people are not rushing back to work to make less money than staying home. It’s exactly what economists predicted would happen, and explains why the April jobs report was the biggest miss in history.

Incentives Matter

Charlie Munger, the billionaire investor and right hand man of Warren Buffett, once famously noted the power of incentives.

“Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome,” Munger said.

The idea that incentives matter is a truism repeated often in economics, yet it’s one that politicians often overlook—evidenced by the 8 million job openings that threaten to stall the economic recovery following the disruptions of 2020.

Fortunately, many appear to recognize the government-created disincentives and are taking action. Texas recently became the latest state—one of 19—to decline the federal unemployment payouts. On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced his state’s addition to the list, the largest state to do so thus far.

This action will be far more effective and cost efficient than trying to lure workers back with $1,000 or $1,200 bonuses (courtesy of taxpayers). Workers don’t need extra incentive to go back to work. They simply need the distinctives that the government created removed.

‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us

Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.

For the last few months, NOQ Report, Conservative Playbook, and the American Conservative Movement have appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.

It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. Both of our YouTube accounts were banned. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Medium canceled us. Apple canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.

The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancellation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.

The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects, including death. One of our stories about the Johnson & Johnson “vaccine” causing blood clots was “fact-checked” and removed one day before the government hit the brakes on it. These questions and news items are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting canceled.

There are more topics that they refuse to allow. In turn, we refuse to stop discussing them. This is why we desperately need your help. The best way NOQ, CP, and ACM readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We are pacing to be short by about $3700 per month in order to maintain operations.

The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. We had 5,657,724 sessions on our website from November, 2020, through February, 2021. Our intention is to elevate that to higher levels this year by focusing on a strategy that relies on free speech rather than being beholden to progressive Big Tech companies.

During that four-month stretch, Twitter and Facebook accounted for about 20% of our traffic. We are actively working on operating as if that traffic is zero, replacing it with platforms that operate more freely such as Gab, Parler, and others. While we were never as dependent on Big Tech as most conservative sites, we’d like to be completely free from them. That doesn’t mean we will block them, but we refuse to be beholden to companies that absolutely despise us simply because of our political ideology.

We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.

As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.

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