Here's my argument to people bemoaning not being able to hire because unemployment benefits are so high that they're keeping people from looking for work. A thread. 1/

#UnemploymentBenefits #unemployment #WeAreInThisTogether #RaiseTheWage #unemployed #MondayMotivaton

580K people died. 400K+ additional people are disabled or unable to work because of Long Covid or related issues. That means many fewer workers, many fewer grandparents who can help with childcare and devastated, traumatized families. Many, many businesses closed permanently. 2/

Many schools are still remote and parents have kids they have to take care of and summer break is starting. Those kids need a parent at home. Those parents can't afford summer childcare because places aren't fully reopened. Kids are susceptible to the variants now. 3/

The jobs available are typically low wage, usually dealing with the public that won't wear masks and is hostile, are rigid in attendance and performance policies that don't work in a pandemic or for families, and rely on unpredictable tips from a cheap, mean & entitled public. 4/

We're not even 50% vaccinated, and the jobs offer no health benefits or paid time off (and will get people kicked off Medicaid if they even have it). The work is public-facing, and businesses cater to antimask, Covid-deniers rather than their employees. 5/

Professionals with established careers, like me, cannot find decent jobs though we interview and we try Every. Damned. Day.

The employers took billions in PPP and EIDL and are most still sucking off the government programs while complaining no one will work for them. 6/

ICE, until early this year (read- throughout 2020 and the pandemic), deported hundreds of thousands of workers who typically fill those jobs in kitchens like washing dishes and cleaning and prep work. WE all understood the social and economic fallout of this practice. 7/

This was predicted. Americans have never worked at those jobs because they are terrible jobs that are dangerous and pay nothing. Those people are GONE. And here we are. 8/

The Chamber of Commerce is a lobbying organization for big businesses. Target alone gives them millions. They are the NRA of corporate America. They've got an axe to grind for their big donors. But maybe businesses that are struggling don't need to stay open. 9/

Maybe we need to tell those owners they're not good at business and not successful as employers and that there are lots of jobs if they just look for them. In Florida, where we're reading the sad stories about the tourism industry struggling because they can't hire?
10/

38K people died & 140K are sick/disabled from Covid. ollar homes to escape Covid precautions, no one has looked into how many service sector workers moved away because this state is so terrible to people who aren't very wealthy. About 900 people/day move here, but 847 leave. 11/

Ever increasing rent (SoFLo has among the highest in the nation) mean landlords, illegal evictions, DeSantis' self-serving decisions, impossible to access unemployment & another legislative session with no Medicaid expansion drove a lot of people out of the state. 12/

Classrooms remain remote. Children require supervision. Summer break is starting. There's no assistance for childcare. Parents, mostly women, are trapped with no one to watch them. So they're turning to other, more favorable, occupations. 13/

Then let's talk about how we have the most new Covid cases of any state right now, the most variants of Covid and vaccination seems to have stalled at 45%. We have no mask mandates, no precautions required and no help for those uninsured (see above re: no Medicaid expansion). 14/

So you truly are risking your life and family to go work in public facing jobs for money that won't cover your astronomical rent. Please, tell us more about DeSantis' genius and how we're thriving. Covid is not over. Not by a longshot. 15/

We're all tired, bored, sick of masks, wishing we could do things and just itching to do something different. But the fact is that the world has changed permanently. It's not ever going back to before this last almost 18 months. Whatever is next will be the new normal. 16/

But sure, it's all extended unemployment. It couldn't possibly be that we've actually lost millions of workers and decimated the workforce or any of that other stuff at all. 17/