US Chamber of Commerce Urges Biden to End Pandemic Benefits: ‘Paying People Not to Work’ Killing Recovery

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called on the White House to end expanded federal unemployment benefits that were implemented during last year’s pandemic relief efforts, saying the extra monthly payments are hurting the economy by keeping workers out of the labor market. On Friday, the Department of Labor reported just 266,000 new jobs created in April, which is far lower than the 1 million jobs that were expected by some analysts. Now, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest business lobbying groups, said that it’s “clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market” and argued that the $300 weekly extra payments are keeping people from working. “We need a comprehensive approach to dealing with our workforce issues and the very real threat unfilled positions poses to our economic recovery from the pandemic,” said the group’s executive vice president, Neil Bradley. “One …