I saw an article in the Denver News yesterday with the caption “You need to have a job to get a job”. I was intrigued by the article heading since for months I’ve been trying to fill two positions and haven’t had much success getting qualified candidates to apply. I’m not alone; I’ve spoken to plenty of business owners who’ve expressed the same frustration. The article didn’t give much more information than was in the heading but did go on to detail how unemployed people weren’t able to obtain jobs while employed people seemed to be finding offers for employment quite readily. As I read the article I thought “What a bunch of BS”!
That’s right … I think that is a bunch of BS! While I don’t want to generalize and group all people into a single category I’ve spoken to and heard of people who have no intention of looking for work until their unemployment benefits run out. The unemployment extensions the current administration has extended and extended again have only delayed people from actively pursuing work. Yes, I know that the jobs available in the work place today don’t pay as much money as the jobs these people had before the “Great Recession” but it must also be taken into consideration that towards the end of the last business cycle wages had moved upward beyond reasonable level as demand for employees exceeded the number of available workers. In other words, employers were overpaying workers to fill vacant positions. I’m sorry people I must inform you those high wages aren’t coming back any time soon.
I have a better explanation as to why people who are employed are able to obtain offers while people who are unemployed don’t seemed to be able to obtain offers. The people who are working are actively looking for jobs that pay more money. Yes, these are actively looking for work since they don’t have unemployment benefits coming in each week.
How and when will this change? There are the same answers for both. Stop extending unemployment benefits, require verifiable proof that a person receiving benefits is applying for jobs and quite giving new benefits to people who are habitually “losing” their job and are in a non-ending cycle of collecting unemployment. Unemployment is supposed to be a safety net not another form of government welfare.
I’m sure there will be a lot of people who I’ve offending with this blog but I make no apology. Instead, I offer a choice … do you want to work or draw unemployment?
Edward Boyle
CEO, Employing Broker
Katchen Company
Katchen Company, founded in 1962, is an integrated real estate company with its corporate headquarters inLakewood,Colorado. The company offers real estate development, redevelopment, property management, brokerage, consulting services, construction oversight and maintenance services to individual and institutional real estate investors throughout the greater Denver metropolitan area in Denver with satellite offices in Chicago, Las Vegas and Miami market areas.
