As a kid I was often around adults who said, "All the kids want everything handed to them, nobody wants to work anymore". Today conservatives are reciting the same mantra. Liberals say it's because the kids are still not in school and too many women have no choice but to stay home. By this logic, Labor Day will be appropriately named because it is then that millions of Americans will be off of unemployment and thronging the hotel and restaurant industries with their skills.
In the mid 70s I graduated into a recession. Some of my friends (I was in the bohemian crowd) went on welfare. The luckier ones got jobs but soon were collecting unemployment. For many of us baby boomers, work was that thing you did with the goal of collecting unemployment.
Many unemployed, admittedly, have side hustles. Jack is helping his brother take wood paneling off of his neighbor's house. Mary is baking birthday cakes for the kids on the block. Fred is putting mufflers on his neighbor's cars. Off the books.
Still in September, I predict we will go back to fairly stable levels of employment. Sadly, wages are unlikely to go up much.
No comments:
Post a Comment