Unemployment

Why have so many workers dropped out of the labor force and stopped actively
seeking work? Partly this is due to sluggish economic growth. But research by the
University of Chicago's Casey Mulligan has suggested that because government
benefits are lost when income rises, some people forgo poor jobs in favor of
government benefits -- unemployment insurance, food stamps and disability
benefits, among the most obvious. Government subsidization of poverty through
welfare program is creating the poverty and unemployment in the United States
today.
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23260
Here's how this works. Unemployment benefits create what economists call a "reservation
wage" below which unemployed workers won't accept a job. If I can get $400 a week in
unemployment benefits, an employer will have to pay me significantly more to entice me to
show up for work. This is the part that everyone understands.
http://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/12/how-unemployment-benefits-destroy-jobs.html
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/14/more-and-more-americans-areoutside-the-labor-force-entirely-who-are-they/

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/06/news/economy/obama-us-jobs/

Solution
https://www.brookings.edu/research/twelve-ways-to-fix-the-youth-unemploymentcrisis/
In order to address the youth unemployment crisis, policymakers should consider
the following proposals:

1.

Fully fund community colleges

2.
Expand and revise the Registered Apprenticeships program at the Department
of Labor

3.

Establish Career Internship Standards

4.

Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to younger workers.

5.

Increase the size of the AmeriCorps

6.

Appropriate funds for the Youth Opportunity (YOG) Program

7.
Overhaul school dropout prevention policies by offering them programs that
lead to employment
8.
Fully fund and reform Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs in high
schools

9.

Expand current mentoring programs

10. Create incentives for public private partnerships to benefit young unemployed
people