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Plenty of jobs, lazy Americans just don't want them
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Fox's John Stossel.
Some people look at our 8.1 percent unemployment rate and say, there aren't enough jobs out there. But others say there are plenty, Americans just aren't willing to do them. One of those people is John Stossel, host of "Stossel" on the Fox Business Network.
Stossel did a Fox News special called "Out of Work," where he argues that there are plenty of jobs in the United States, Americans aren't willing to take them. He points the blame on a more-than-generous government safety net.
"We've taught people that in some cases it's easier to be dependent, and you're a sucker if you pound the pavement and work at one of those tough minimum wage jobs," he told host Jeremy Hobson.
Listen to the interview above to hear from Stossel about why he thinks both the "help wanted index" and the unemployment numbers are higher than ever now.
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I've grown tired of Mr. Stossel's incessant laziness about almost everything he reports on, especially anything having to do with economics or employment or basic living skills. And I've grown even more tired NPR letting him get away with the type of nonsense he spews in this piece.
Here's what Stossel does: He paints the current employment crisis as something that the workers have somehow fabricated in order to collect "free benefits." The theory being that the economic reality of joblessness is the FAULT OF THE WORKERS and somehow has nothing to do with and ongoing, pernicious recession being experienced by many industry sectors. He conjures up some absurd notion that the workforce (read that as lazy people) can or would retool themselves to MAKE LESS MONEY working low paying jobs. Wow, why is it that when "businesses" are given "the right incentives" (i.e. make more money) then capitalism is good, but when the workers expect good pay for their services....well then, they're parasites, freeloaders or "a burden on the balance sheet." Stossel never met a "business" he didn't feel was being cheated by its employees.
And how does Stossel explain away the fact that the economy grew at only 1.5% in the last quarter? Oh, I'm sure it's all those lazy, demanding-more-than-minimum-wages employees that are causing the problem and thus creating a demand for "freebees."
Could it be that there are HUGE systemic problems in our economics that go far beyond blaming honest, hardworking Americans who have fallen on really tough times and who are encountering a job market with no security, no benefits, lower wages and......thanks Stossel, absolutely NO respect?
I think Stossel needs to get out and do more indepth research.
After being unemployed and underemployed from 2009-2011, I was thankful for unemployment benefits - only the 2nd time I have used then in my 20+ year career.
But the benefits did not pay my bills and taking a minimum wage job of any kind has implications other than not making enough money to support myself: how will this job look on my resume; what skills can I learn; if I job hop too much even in this crazy economy that is a topic of discussion in job interviews - if I get the interview; being on benefits allowed me to take classes, look for work full-time in my field and network; being on benefits too long doesn't look good as it leaves a "hole" in my resume; I was overqualified at many min. wage jobs; some employers are relutant to hire if you are overqualified cause you will probably leave them ASAP at a chance back in your field; in the current job market employers can be choosy.
It is a balancing act that I took seriously as did others I met out of work - we are/were not lazy but very serious about our careers and the implications of our choices (for those of us over 40 yrs.) and where we needed to go with our careers in the future even in this rough economy.
A full time minimum wage job in New York City pays $7.25. This is $15,080 a year, assuming 40 hours and a full 52 week year. Is it possible to live anywhere in the greater New York area for that amount? Would you have enough money to get to and from your job? Would you get any useful skills at that job that would allow you to get a higher wage? How long would that take? Why would someone with skills that would allow them to earn a low but decent wage (lets say $35K/year) take a job that pays so much less and takes so much time that they would not be able to search for a job that requires the skills they already have. It is ridiculous to suggest that people should just go back to the beginning in their career when they lose their job. The job seekers aren't lazy or poisoned by the welfare state like the Fox host suggests. They just don't want to completely give up the hope of a decent job and a living wage.
It would be interesting to see the Fox host or his interns actually try to live on one of those oh so great jobs they were able to find, a la Barbara Ehrenreich. But they would never do that because they have good jobs already, or someone to pay for them to be unpaid interns in New York City.
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