Rick Scott’s fears confirmed as service jobs go unfilled
Sen. Rick Scott.

rick_scott_132810311
Restaurants are having a hard time filling jobs.

Sen. Rick Scott asserted Tuesday that his deepest fears had been confirmed when it comes to the pandemic jobs market.

“This is what I was afraid of and warned about,” Scott tweeted, regarding overly generous relief payments that keep people from getting back into the job market.

“It’s one thing to help struggling families, but the federal government should not be paying Americans more to stay home than go back to their jobs. We have to get our economy reopened,” Scott said, responding to a news report about Miami area restaurants offering hiring bonuses because there aren’t enough qualified workers to fulfill their shifts.

Scott has issued numerous complaints in the last year regarding how overly lavish jobless benefits could remove the incentives for some to participate in the job market.

“If given the chance to make more on a government program than in a job, some will make the rational and reasonable decision to delay going back to work, hampering our economic recovery,” Scott tweeted in April 2020.

Days before that, as unemployment in the state soared, and the CONNECT website former Gov. Scott left for Gov. Ron DeSantis faltered, Scott fretted that federal coronavirus relief “means that workers could make more money by not working than they would make if they had a job.”

He advised that simple home economics could help people get through the changes in the economy spurred by the pandemic.

“Most families in this country survive by not being wasteful, but by clipping coupons, by buying necessities when they are on sale, by cutting their own grass, and by reusing aluminum foil,” Scott wrote for Fox News.

“Don’t incentivize workers to stay on government-run, taxpayer-funded programs when this crisis has ended, and we need them to go back to work. That’s not complicated,” Scott added.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


5 comments

  • Ocean Joe

    April 20, 2021 at 6:12 pm

    One flaw in Scott’s position is that he and most GOP officeholders opposed raising the minimum wage. Their policies seal off the exits for poor to escape the underclass. People who are making more from govt. benefits than they could working, must not have been earning much. And when it comes to living off the government, how can we forget who has taken more from government than possibly anyone else in history?

  • Frankie M.

    April 20, 2021 at 6:16 pm

    What does it say about our economy when unemployment benefits are more generous than those workers can receive from their employer? If anybody knows about getting over on the guvmint it’s Rick Scott.

  • Mitzi

    April 20, 2021 at 7:18 pm

    Florida’s unemployment benefits are capped at $275 a week, most peopke get about half that and they end after 12 weeks. Adding the $300 federal boost means people are getting around $400 to $500 a week for – at the most, 23-24 weeks. That’s right, Florida’s unemployed are living the high life Prick Scott!! Lounging in the islands no doubt, drinking margaritas and eating the best steaks on the gubmint dole!! What a nasty little piece of work our self righteous, grifting, authoritarian asshat of a senator is.

  • DONNA M.MATSON

    April 20, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    Well, in New Jersey you only get $231.00 a week and it’s taxed. That is for a person who made $50,000.00 a year and who paid in for over 40 years, in the same job. That person had to go back to work and is a senior citizen too. Their IRA was wiped out almost completely in 2008 working for the same company. Most of the ppl today want that six-figure income from out of the gate, if not they always have the government dole to go to. Mitzi, I believe you’re doing better than most.

  • David Torgerson

    April 23, 2021 at 8:44 am

    $2.13 an hour. What’s not to like?

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories