I've spent a lot of today thinking about UI, workers in "essential industries," and the CARES Act. As is usual, I'm not happy with much of what I'm seeing out there from either side.

In general, we should be concerned about workers having UI benefits that exceed their wages. That opens up areas for abuse, for workers to remove themselves from the labor force, and to be slow to return.

At the same time, if a business is struggling, isn't it better for them to layoff their workers and let them claim a generous UI benefit, rather than keep them on the payroll with very reduced hours?

Even in some of the "essential" industries, the impacts aren't uniform. The small, locally-owned grocer in my neighborhood is struggling to keep its doors open. But the large chains in the area with delivery and curbside pickup are doing quite well.

The same is true in health care. A rural midwifery practice is having a very different experience than an ER in a major metro area. Contrary to some of the rhetoric, we are seeing layoffs in medical fields as non-emergent procedures are cut significantly.

And even those that do try to access UI benefits are finding it to be a significant process. Websites aren't crashing, phone lines aren't working, etc.

Now, hopefully, this crisis is truly short-term. And businesses can reopen quickly. And yes, it will be a concern to get individuals back to work. But that's why the UI expansion should be temporary. It can introduce bad incentives, but all of the CARES Act has bad incentives.

We don't generally tell businesses we'll loan them several months of payroll and that they don't need to submit tax payments for up to two years. We don't generally send individuals $1,200.

Policy is about trade offs. There is no perfect policy, and frankly, we're currently operating not in the world of second bests, but in the world of fourth or fifth bests (if I'm being positive).

At the margin, the UI benefits matter. Of course, they do. But this isn't a normal time either.

I don't really have an answer here either. But I don't think we can bemoan generous UI benefits and not have a solution for people. I'd love to do payments based on wages, but state legacy computer systems eliminated that option.

All day, I just kept thinking of the question: "Would you rather be accurate or precise?"