Missouri Gov. Parson’s unemployment decision will force thousands back into poverty
Gov. Mike Parson’s ill-advised decision to cancel federal unemployment payments in mid-June will cause needless suffering for Missouri families still struggling as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers.
We’re told Republicans want to be known as the “working person” party. Why do they go out of their way to protect businesses at the expense of working people?
“Many business owners and employers across the state are still struggling,” Parson said Tuesday. “Not because of COVID-19, but because they can’t find people to fill the jobs.”
This is seriously misleading, of course. Employers can’t find workers at the wages they’re willing to pay. Raising wages and salaries, particularly for low-paying entry-level jobs, would quickly rectify whatever recruiting problems business owners think they have.
Of course, higher wages might cut into business owners’ profits. Gosh. We can’t have that.
“Continuing these programs only worsens the workforce issues we’re currently facing,” Parson said.
The unemployment rate in Missouri is 4.2%, so it isn’t clear what workforce “issues” Missouri faces. But this much is clear: What business people want, and what Parson is now giving them, is a labor force working for the same substandard pay they got before the pandemic.
“The notion that Missourians are refusing to work so they can temporarily collect $300 a week is an offensive right-wing myth,” said Missouri House Minority leader Crystal Quade in a statement.
“If you’re having trouble hiring people, pay more,” Mayor Quinton Lucas tweeted Tuesday. Correct.
The Missouri minimum wage is $412 a week. That’s below the federal poverty level for a three-person family.
The maximum unemployment benefit in Missouri is $320 a week. To that, Washington added $300 a week in expanded unemployment benefits through early September. The combined benefit is enough to move the family of three out of poverty, if only for a few months.
That’s too heavy a lift for Missouri’s governor, apparently. His business friends don’t want to compete with $620 a week. They prefer paying something closer to the minimum wage. Parson has obliged them, forcing families back into poverty asap.
How many? Parson couldn’t say Tuesday. In fact, he offered no hard data backing up his claim that people are ducking work for unemployment checks. It’s a “common sense issue,” he said, which is code for “we’re making this up.”
In fact, there is evidence the national labor shortage is actually at the higher end of the wage scale, where unemployment payments are less significant. There’s also evidence that higher unemployment benefits have had a negligible impact on employment.
No matter. Parson is confident employers will pay better wages, um, somewhere, eventually. “I think you’re seeing more and more employers knowing they’re going to have to pay more money to get employees back in,” he said. “I think many of them are making that adjustment.”
Not now, they’re not.
Missouri’s war against the poor continues unabated. The courts will easily dismiss the legislature’s unconstitutional decision to defund voter-approved Medicaid expansion, but the working poor who need the service will suffer needless anxiety anyway.
Now this. A federal program designed to lift some workers out of poverty for just a few months must be canceled because a dish washer will no longer work for $11 an hour.
Parson’s ill-timed and ill-considered decision is regrettable. It also sends a clear message to the state: If you’re poor, you don’t belong here.