On Monday’s “CNN Newsroom,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) stated that enhanced unemployment benefits might be one cause of labor shortages, one way that the shortage is being resolved is by increasing wages, which Murphy conceded “may be a contributor right now to some amount of inflation.”
Murphy said that while he won’t end the enhanced benefits early, “I think it’s potentially one of the contributors to the labor challenges we have. Which, I believe, by the way, are temporary.”
He added that one of the ways he thinks that the labor challenges will be resolved is that “among other things, you’re starting to see employers pay up, and I think that’s probably inevitable. And I think that will lead, at least, or may be a contributor right now to some amount of inflation. Because if you’re paying your staff more, you’re probably going to find — an employer, some way to pass that onto your customer and my guess is that’s going to be, in the short term at least, that’s going to be the ticket to get fully staffed up.”
Murphy further stated that he thinks paying employees more is never a bad thing, even though it may increase prices.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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