Republicans Pave the Way to Recovery While Biden-Harris’ COVID-19 Policies Fall Flat

As COVID precautions begin to lax and businesses reopen, employers across the country are running into a significant problem. They are struggling to find enough new hires to meet the increased demand.

Where have all the workers gone?

One New Orleans restaurant owner — who is 20 employees short of being able to open full time — told NBC News people are more content staying at home and living off the Biden administration’s expanded unemployment benefits rather than coming back to work.

After April’s disappointing jobs report, many Republican governors decided to take matters into their own hands and opted to end enhanced federal unemployment benefits early to help business owners who are struggling to fill staffing positions. Some governors are offering one-time bonuses to incentivize returning back to work.

CBS News: “‘In Arizona, we’re going to use federal money to encourage people to work…instead of paying people not to work,’ Governor Doug Ducey said in a statement announcing Arizona would be offering one-time bonuses to returning workers last week.”

CNN: “‘While these benefits provided supplementary financial assistance during the height of Covid-19, they were intended to be temporary, and their continuation has instead worsened the workforce issues we are facing,’ said Gov. Mike Parsons of Missouri, which has an unemployment rate of 4.2%. Benefits there will cease on June 12. ‘It’s time that we end these programs that have ultimately incentivized people to stay out of the workforce.’”

CNN: “‘We will no longer participate in federal pandemic unemployment programs because Tennesseans have access to more than 250,000 jobs in our state,’ said Gov. Bill Lee. ‘Families, businesses and our economy thrive when we focus on meaningful employment and move on from short-term, federal fixes.’”

Red states have a record of economically outperforming blue states throughout the pandemic, and the numbers are continuing to bear that out. 

According to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average unemployment rate in April 2021 for Republican-led states was 4.6 percent, while Democrat-led states showed an average unemployment rate nearly two percentage points higher at 6.4 percent.

Whitney Robertson, Deputy Press Secretary at America Rising PAC: “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Democrats in Congress made a mess of our economic recovery post-pandemic, and now Republicans are being forced to play clean up. It should come as no surprise that the party of lockdowns and closures are finding little success in their stifling economic policies.”