Unemployment benefits are a mess if you don’t find a job and earn it lying down

Since the outbreak of the New Guinea virus, the federal government has passed several relief bills to provide money to the unemployed. The level of unemployment benefits received is mainly based on the previous income level of the unemployed and the amount of taxes paid. An accountant pointed out that a Chinese client received about $40,000 in unemployment benefits last year; another accountant had seen a Chinese couple receive more than $60,000 in unemployment benefits. Who would want to work if they don’t work for a year and receive the money “lying down”, which is much easier than working hard every day?

The difference between working hard and receiving unemployment benefits is so great that some people lose their enthusiasm to work or have no motivation to find a job, which makes it impossible for companies to recruit people. Some people are looking for jobs that pay cash or require employers to pay cash before they go to work in order to earn more money, according to accountant Yang Guangming, who said that the income will not appear on W-2 tax forms. Abuse of unemployment benefits during the epidemic was widespread.

Many restaurants are back in business, but the generous unemployment benefits are making it difficult to hire workers.

Statistics show that the average annual salary of laborers in the United States in 2019 is $31,133, and the Bank of America research report points out that laborers who earned less than $32,000 a year before the new crown epidemic are now receiving more unemployment benefits from the federal and state governments.

Accountant John Yeh said that during the severe period of the epidemic, each unemployed worker in California could receive up to $450 per week from the California state government, plus $600 from the federal government for a total of $1,050 in unemployment benefits for up to 39 weeks. In this way, the most last year can receive more than 40,000 yuan unemployment benefits. In addition, President Biden signed the American Relief Act this year, allowing the federal government to continue to pay $300 a week in unemployment benefits until September 6. In other words, the unemployed Californians can receive up to $750 a week in unemployment benefits this year.

“This is a test of humanity.” Ye Junlin pointed out that the federal government is so generous in giving benefits that are too generous, and the labor market will naturally have an impact. In fact, the government is giving out subsidies to save the emergency, not to save the poor, and should encourage people to actively look for work, rather than leading people to live “on welfare”. He believes that this move will not help the economic recovery, and many people only see the immediate benefits, but do not know that the evil consequences will ultimately be borne by the people themselves.

The California Employment Development Department (EDD) has taken very poor remedial or precautionary measures, which has led to frequent cases of unemployment benefit fraud, according to accountant Qixiang Shi. He believes that the government’s initial intention was to provide relief to the people, but not to prevent these dishonest people, who are indeed often looking for opportunities to profit.

California’s recent economic recovery has been slow, and the job market has grown for two consecutive months. According to the report, employers are now offering more jobs than before the epidemic, and the average hourly wage in April increased significantly by 0.7% over March. However, the U.S. employment environment was unexpectedly cooling in April. A number of people believe that the government’s continued granting of generous unemployment benefits is one of the main causes of labor’s loss of motivation to work.