Restoring the American Workforce

A common refrain I hear from employers across Nebraska’s Third District is how difficult it has become to find workers to fill the job openings they have. As the unemployment rate rose to a six-month high of 3.7 percent in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of job openings in America sits at roughly 11 million. Job openings in the U.S. outnumber job seekers by a margin of nearly 2-to-1. Wages are up 5.2 percent over a year ago, but real wage growth – when accounting 8.7 percent inflation – is negative as more than 60 percent of job creators fear inflation will drive them out of business. You don’t have to be an economist to see Biden’s economy is broken, and it’s a nationwide problem.

In September 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, the workforce participation rate—which is calculated by dividing the number of those in the workforce or actively seeking a job by the total number of working age American civilians—was at 66 percent. As of August 2022, that percentage is down to 62.4. The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on workforce participation, which was worsened by Democrat-led policies. Rather than advancing policy to lower obstacles to employment – like addressing the underlying challenges limiting availability of child care , getting children back in schools, and fully reopening our economy – President Biden and Democrats in Congress pushed for draconian lockdowns and turned the IRS into a monthly benefit payment agency paying people to stay home. Now, as parents see the true impact of closing schools – reading and math scores across the country plummeted – Democrats are attempting to rewrite history and take credit for Republicans’ fight to reopen schools and economies around the country.

In May 2022, U.S Department of Labor’s inspector general estimated at least $163 billion in unemployment benefits was stolen from the American taxpayer over the course of the pandemic through identity theft and fraudulent schemes. Fewer than $1 billion has been recovered. I signed onto the Chase COVID Unemployment Fraud Act to ensure aggressive investigation and prosecution of criminal fraud in pandemic unemployment programs. Furthermore, with ongoing massive filing backlogs and alarming leaks of private information, the evidence is overwhelming the IRS cannot and should not be handed this additional responsibility . 

Rampant fraud and abuse – along with the millions of able-bodied workers on the sidelines of our economy – reinforce the importance of reimplementing work requirements for federal benefits. Work requirements have received bipartisan support before, but this means President Biden must work in a bipartisan way to tackle challenges instead of doubling down on identity politics as he did in his recent address.

There has long been a need to bring discouraged Americans off the sidelines of the economy and back into the workforce. Unfortunately, under the failed policies of the current administration, the need has grown. That is why I originally introduced and currently cosponsor the JOBS for Success Act, a bill to ensure states are doing everything in their power to connect Americans on the sidelines with economic opportunity and provide them the support they need to remain and earn advancement in the workforce. We must also ensure tax policies intended to reward work remain tied to work. In 2017, I supported doubling the child tax credit to $2,000, along with work requirements to receive the credit, to help ensure work always benefited parents more than choosing to stay home. Unfortunately, the child tax credit system President Biden instituted for part of last year, where the benefit was increased further and mailed out in the form of monthly benefit payments, had the opposite effect, slowing the rate of post-pandemic return to the workforce for parents just as kids were returning to school and they should have had more time and capacity to work outside the home.

As a member of the Republican Jobs and Economy Taskforce, I am committed to advancing policies to foster opportunities for American workers, support small businesses, promote flexibility for working families, and build a strong economy that benefits future generations. This will not be accomplished overnight, but Republicans have put forward ideas which will strengthen the economy, and hold government accountable, and I will continue to fight to for these principles.