GOP Myth Busted As Cutting Unemployment Benefits Didn’t Lead To More Jobs

Republicans constantly say that unemployment benefits keep people from working, but a new analysis shows that cutting benefits doesn’t lead to more jobs.

Red States That Cut Unemployment Benefits Did Not Have More Job Growth

The Wall Street Journal and a team of economists analyzed states that cut unemployment benefits and those that didn’t and found:

States that ended enhanced federal unemployment benefits early have so far seen about the same job growth as states that continued offering the pandemic-related extra aid, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis and economists.

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Economists who have conducted their own analyses of the government data say the rates of job growth in states that ended and states that maintained the benefits are, from a statistical perspective, about the same.

Economists caution that there could be other factors at play, but the initial data does not support the Republican claim that cutting unemployment benefits during the pandemic forces people back to work.

The data makes sense because the Republican position does not differentiate between those temporarily laid off due to COVID and those who permanently lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

The idea that people will choose to stay on unemployment benefits instead of working is a false ideological rationale intended to justify cutting benefits.

Cutting unemployment benefits doesn’t lead to employment growth. It only compounds the suffering of the unemployed.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association