Dem Sen. Brown: ‘Employers Ought to Increase Wages’ if Unemployment Benefits Are Discouraging Work

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) reacted to Republicans claiming that increased unemployment benefits have disincentivized people from working by stating that employers should increase their wages.

Host Chris Hayes asked, “A trend has started of Republican governors in states essentially canceling the federal unemployment pandemic bonus that was part of the last COVID relief, saying that their state is withdrawing from participating in that. … And the argument is, you guys have gone and screwed up the labor markets by giving people this unemployment money, and now employers can’t hire people. What do you say to that?”

Brown responded, “Well, I would say maybe employers ought to increase wages, you start with that. You understand that a whole lot of women have left the workforce because they can’t — they don’t have childcare available. There’s also that. You may remember a year-plus ago, we passed the CARES Act unanimously in the Senate. Republicans wanted to offer one amendment, which they did, and we beat back. And that amendment was to take away the $600-a-week unemployment benefit as millions of Americans were laid off. So, they can’t stand it. Frankly, I mean, they don’t like social insurance.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett