The Stationary State

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2012/07/the-stationary-state

Niall Ferguson, writing in NewsBeast:

more is going on here than deleveraging. Consider this: the U.S. economy has created 2.6 million jobs since June 2009. In the same period, 3.1 million workers have signed up for disability benefits. Back in 1992 there was one person on disability benefits for every 36 people in employment. Now the ratio is 1 to 16. Unemployment is being concealed—and rendered permanent—in ways all too familiar to Europeans.

I don't doubt that there are some genuinely disabled people who can't work, or who at least can't work productively enough to make it worthwhile for an employer to pay them the government-mandated minimum wage plus the "wedge" of employment taxes, workers compensation insurance, etc. That said, at the margins, if the government pays people not to work, some people will make the choice not to work.

by Editor  |  Jul 16, 2012 at 8:15 am Related Topics:  Unemployment receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list