The $600 unemployment bonuses did not lead to people working less, Yale study finds

[kpete]

A report by economists at Yale University did not find any evidence that the $600 weekly jobless benefits authorized by Congress in
March in response to the COVID-19 outbreak reduced employment in the US.

Findings suggest that in the aggregate, the expanded benefits "neither encouraged layoffs during the pandemic's onset nor deterred people from returning to work once businesses began reopening. "

"Workers facing larger expansions in unemployment insurance benefits have returned to their previous jobs over time at similar rates as others," the economists said. "We find no evidence that more generous benefits disincentivize work either at the onset of the expansion or as firms looked to return to business over time. In future research, it will be important to assess whether the same results hold when states move to reopen."

The $600 per week unemployment benefits that millions of Americans have been receiving under the CARES Act expire at the end of July. This comes as members of the Trump administration have been critical of these benefits to unemployed Americans, frequently claiming without evidence that they disincentivize people returning to work.

.......

https://www.businessinsider.com/600-unemployment-bonus-payments-dont-cause-less-work-yale-2020-7

[unblock]

1. Republicans just make up self-serving crap and call it economics.

The $2 *trillion* tax cut didn't really lead to people working more. Or to much more hiring.

Truth is, tax cuts are terrible at incentivizing useful economic behavior because the simply reward profit with more take-home money. In other words, they encourage people to make a profit, which by definition they are already encouraged to do. That's what "profit motive" means.

We got very little gdp or employment value out of those tax cuts. But republicans don't give a crap about that. But oh, boy do they ever want to complain about poor people maybe getting $600....

[stopbush]

2. Rs do not want lower- and middle-wage earners to get a sense

of getting ahead of their bills, of having a bit of $ left over at the end of the month, of not feeling under the boot. Desperate people are more likely to settle for less, and to accept that their situations will never get better.

More controllable, less ambitious.

[unblock]

4. Their idea of a freedom is freedom to oppress.

They're never happy unless they're taking advantage of someone.

[jayfish]

3. Republicans Lead By...

anecdote and will never let pesky facts dissuade them from the practice.

[Midnight Writer]

5. Study? The GOP don't need no stinking study!