Comment on the Belmont Club: "Jobs"

They measure what they measure.
They only measure people who draw state unemployment insurance money. There are probly over a million people like me. I am unemployed. I have not quit looking, wait a second and I will check my lottery results, no luck so I am still looking. NYS Dept of Labor denied my unemployment claim because I was unemployed last year and took a job, on the Bloomberg campaign, that lasted 7 months. Since I was not employed for 3 continuous quarters at a qualifying level I get nothing. If I had declined to take the job and had extended my prior claim then I would have been fine. At this point I will do anything that is legal but there are no jobs even in retail.

Most government incentives are structured to make someone hire an unqualified person in a temporary role and then terminate them before they can transfer from the subsidized to the regular work force. These programs both trap the unqualified low skill workers, who understandably focus on pleasing their outside political sponsors more than their inside coworkers and supervisors, and they block hiring opportunities for higher skilled workers.

If you really want to stimulate employment among all skill levels there are two things that work immediately and three more that will work over time.

The immediate measures;
1. cut the minimum wage,
2. cut corporate and dividend taxes

The longer term measures;
1. cut individual income taxes,
2. cut regulations,
3. tort reform.

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Eggplant,
(who asked what my career field was)

Naval officer in Weapons, Operations/Deck and Intelligence, HS History teacher at the worst and second best schools in NYC, in Finance held series #7 since lapsed, worked retail trade, Supervisor for TSA and completed 13 of 15 weeks long course at FLETC for Customs before a minor injury. Also low level politics in several campaigns and Office Manager on campus. Much Red Cross experience in logistics, damage assessment, mass care and shelter operations. Thank you for asking.