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US Chamber poll finds a quarter of the unemployed cite both a lack of childcare and COVID-19 concerns for not returning to work

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Polls

* US Chamber poll press release…

• Half (49%) of Americans who lost their job during the pandemic report they are not active at all or not very active in searching for new employment. Less than a third (32%) report that they are strongly active in their job search.

• Six in 10 respondents (61%) say they are in no hurry to return to work. Three in 10 (30%) say they do not expect to return to work this year, with more than half of those (13% of the total) saying they never plan to return to work.

• One in eight (13%) who became unemployed during the pandemic and remain unemployed have turned down at least one job offer in the past year.

• One in six (16%) not actively seeking work say the amount of money they are receiving from unemployment benefits and government programs makes it “not worth looking” for jobs. Even more—28 percent of all respondents—agree that “there are a lot of people who are not looking for work because they can do almost or just as well collecting unemployment benefits.”

• Other common factors contributing to unemployed Americans not looking for work include childcare and other family care needs (24%), a lack of available jobs due in sectors that are still suffering (28%), and COVID-19 concerns (26%).

• One in four survey respondents (23%) say they lack the skills or experience necessary for most of the jobs available right now.

I’d ignore the 28 percent who are speculating about why others aren’t returning to work and focus on what they actually said about themselves. It’s pretty clear that this Chamber poll shows the vast majority of unemployed people aren’t staying home because they can make more money by doing so. There are far more important factors involved.

And if you look at the Chamber’s own analysis, you’ll see that 55 percent of people 45+ are not actively seeking a new job, with 42 percent saying they aren’t at all actively looking - by far the highest number in that category.

Yet, some people insist on punishing families with children and younger workers by cutting off their UI benefits.

* Methodology…

The poll of 506 Americans who lost jobs during the pandemic and have not returned to full-time employment was taken May 17-20. The poll has an overall survey margin of error +/-4.4 at the 95% confidence level, with stable and projectable bases across age, prior total compensation, ethnicity, incidence of children at home, industry sector and educational attainment.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:41 am

Comments

The pandemic forced a fundamental conflict of American work into the limelight. Why am I being forced to submit myself to 8-10 hours a day of frustration (commute, meeting, etc.) when I can be just as intermittently productive over 3-4 hours a day?

There are drawbacks to not having an office life, but I think people are (rightly) realizing that their life can be more fulfilling if they spend more time with family, pets, and just by themselves is a long-needed development for working people in this country.

Comment by Charlie Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 11:53 am
It says that 1 in 4 of the over 45 have decided to retire. I wonder if this is just a result of reassessment of the importance of work and money. People may have continued to work thinking at least they were doing a service and then discovered it wasn’t worth it while others were working to get a higher SS payout and decided that it really wasn’t worth it given the fragility of life and health.

Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 12:00 pm
I find the fact that the percentage of 50K+ folks are more likely to say that unemployment is enough to make it not worth looking for work is actually higher than it is for the

Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 12:03 pm
Cutting UI is only partly about forcing workers back into jobs; it’s also about keeping wages down and avoiding UI tax increases paid by employers.

Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 12:05 pm
to continue my thought than it is for the less than 50K (I’m guessing it was the less than sign that ended my previous post) folks. I wonder how many of these are second income spouses?

Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 12:13 pm
Clearly, employers need to be offering better pay and benefits, including child care. Or, get out of the way of the State providing such things. Because it helps them.

Comment by Ok Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 12:22 pm
Hard to get valid polling data when you ask people what they are doing or why they are doing it. That’s why self reporting tv viewership shows so many PBS viewers and why Trump fared poorly in polls and better in elections.

Comment by Jed Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 1:03 pm
I’d be curious to see cross-tabs breaking employment down by job sector

The Tribune had a very good article exploring why people are not rushing back to jobs in the hospitality industry: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/back-aching-work-low-pay-no-health-care-here-e2-80-99s-why-chicago-restaurant-workers-aren-e2-80-99t-coming-back/ar-AAKDVRQ

“It hit me pretty quickly,” [Kodi Roberts, a restaurant server for 10 years until the pandemic] said. “My body started bouncing back. My back stopped hurting. My nails started growing because I wasn’t dipping them in buckets of bleach and sanitizer all the time. I felt like a person who could move through the world relatively well again.”

***

“Hours are late, and there are sharp knives and boiling hot oil and slippery floors,” [Michael Roper, owner of the Hopleaf] said. “I saw one of our old cooks stocking produce at a grocery store. He doesn’t want to come back. He’s making the same money and done with work at 9 every night instead of midnight or one in the morning.”

I doubt if all of that is unique to bars and restaurants, and wouldn’t be at all surprised by similar/cost benefit calculations by workers from other industries.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 1:21 pm
Need to pay these employees more. Isn’t that how capitalism works? I know I’ve bumped my tipping up substantially since the pandemic. The floor used to be 15% with a high of 25% or so. Now the floor is 20% with a high of 30% or so. And I’ve gone over that on occasion. And tip the busboy separately from time to time.

Comment by Original Rambler Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 2:21 pm
I’m surprised about the lack of childcare. Our family is blessed that we haven’t had that problem for 9 or 10 months. I wonder if this will be a somewhat permanent problem. If daycares haven’t reopened yet, you have to wonder if they are going to.

Comment by Andyillini Friday, Jun 4, 21 @ 2:36 pm

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