an actual question, plus gender stuff
Over on Facebook, I linked to this Brookings Institute study. Short version of findings: the perverse incentive effect whereby unemployment insurance contributes to joblessess is less than previous studies found, and about half that effect comes from people who, in order to maintain benefits, continue looking for jobs rather than removing themselves from the labor market entirely (i.e. giving up.)
Here's what I posted about it:
-I have a question about the whole issue of UI contributing to joblessness - shouldn't we be looking at *open jobs*, and not *people without work*? It's mostly zero-sum, right? So if Bob doesn't take a job at Starbucks because his UI allows him to hold out for a job in his field, then Sally can take the job instead. And if Bob *had* taken it, Sally would still be out of work.
Obviously it's not that simple - let's say someone retires, and their position opens up. I'm competing with someone who is unemployed. If they get the job, then hooray, joblessness goes down. But if I get the job, you can't just assume that my old position creates another opportunity -maybe my employer chooses not to fill my position. Not everything is fungible and interchangeable. But it still seems dodgy to me to say, even in the tiny fraction of a percent of cases where unemployment benefits might cause someone to decline work, that this contributes to the unemployment rate. Especially if we're talking about people avoiding underemployment - wouldn't that have a trickle-down effect on the less-qualified? If Bob is a college grad, and he takes the Starbucks job, and Sally is a high-school drop-out, where is *she* going to work? Isn't everyone better off in the long run if Bob continues to draw unemployment until he can get a better job, while Sally works at Starbucks?-
It's a sincere question, which no one has yet addressed on my FB, but maybe if I tag the_macnab he'll come over and look at it. Anyway.
One of the comments that I did get was from a friend of my brother's, whom I have never known well and have not seen in years. His comment was "I think smart girls are cute..."
Really? Really? I'm not going to say anything, because, you know, brother's friend, and I just don't feel like getting into something like that. But what, on some level, I'd like to say is, "You know what smart girls think is cute? Actually engaging with the substance of our conversations, instead of making everything about what your dick likes."
Here's what I posted about it:
-I have a question about the whole issue of UI contributing to joblessness - shouldn't we be looking at *open jobs*, and not *people without work*? It's mostly zero-sum, right? So if Bob doesn't take a job at Starbucks because his UI allows him to hold out for a job in his field, then Sally can take the job instead. And if Bob *had* taken it, Sally would still be out of work.
Obviously it's not that simple - let's say someone retires, and their position opens up. I'm competing with someone who is unemployed. If they get the job, then hooray, joblessness goes down. But if I get the job, you can't just assume that my old position creates another opportunity -maybe my employer chooses not to fill my position. Not everything is fungible and interchangeable. But it still seems dodgy to me to say, even in the tiny fraction of a percent of cases where unemployment benefits might cause someone to decline work, that this contributes to the unemployment rate. Especially if we're talking about people avoiding underemployment - wouldn't that have a trickle-down effect on the less-qualified? If Bob is a college grad, and he takes the Starbucks job, and Sally is a high-school drop-out, where is *she* going to work? Isn't everyone better off in the long run if Bob continues to draw unemployment until he can get a better job, while Sally works at Starbucks?-
It's a sincere question, which no one has yet addressed on my FB, but maybe if I tag the_macnab he'll come over and look at it. Anyway.
One of the comments that I did get was from a friend of my brother's, whom I have never known well and have not seen in years. His comment was "I think smart girls are cute..."
Really? Really? I'm not going to say anything, because, you know, brother's friend, and I just don't feel like getting into something like that. But what, on some level, I'd like to say is, "You know what smart girls think is cute? Actually engaging with the substance of our conversations, instead of making everything about what your dick likes."