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Captain Obvious probably knows it, but blue state governors, not so much.
Fox Business news is reporting that Republican governors are leading the recovery in the United States, while Democrat controlled states, which generally imposed longer and tighter lockdowns, are facing much higher unemployment rates.
The latest Labor Department statistics showed that governors of the ten states with the lowest unemployment rates are all Republicans. The following states all have unemployment levels much lower than the current national average of 5.4 percent:
- Nebraska (2.3 percent)
- Utah (2.6 percent)
- New Hampshire (2.9 percent)
- South Dakota (2.9 percent)
- Idaho (3 percent)
Conversely, all ten states with the highest unemployment rates are run by Democrats. And they include traditional large drivers of economic activity including California and New York:
- New York (7.6%)
- New Mexico (7.6%)
- California (7.6%)
- New Jersey (7.3%)
Labor Department stats showed that 16 of 20 states with the lowest unemployment numbers were headed by Republican governors.
Supplementary unemployment benefits, which augmented normal benefits, were created in March 2020 in conjunction with CDC advisories to states to severely restrict citizens and commercial and other activities. Notions of “essential workers,” and “lockdowns” became the new norm for many.
But blue state governors like Andrew Cuomo in New York, Gavin Newsome in California, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy dictated some of the most draconian measures.
Supplementary benefits were extended twice by Congress. But they’re set to expire on Sept. 6 as part of a 1.9 trillion dollar “rescue” package approved by Democrats in March.
Many businesses have struggled to fill positions, and say potential employees have little reason to seek work, when employment benefits approach what they would make at many jobs.
Of course, many large corporations complaining about worker shortages have vast resources to pay more to attract workers, if they wanted.
But small and medium sized businesses deemed “unessential”, and disproportionately hurt by COVID lockdowns, are operating on much thinner margins.
The expiration of supplemental benefits could be a lifeline to those businesses—if blue states manage to avoid lurching back into lockdowns which have shown little efficacy in stopping the spread of viruses.