Flores-Lagunes discusses open jobs, unemployment on Syracuse.com

May 27, 2021

Syracuse.com

Alfonso Flores-Lagunes

Economics Department

Aging Studies Institute

Center for Policy Research

Labor

New York State

Syracuse.com

Alfonso Flores-Lagunes

At a time of high unemployment, Central N.Y. businesses are having trouble finding workers to take their low-wage jobs. That’s because an additional $300 a week in unemployment benefits means people who made minimum wage when working earn the equivalent of $15 an hour for sitting at home. “Workers have a little more power for a change,” says Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, professor of economics. Flores-Lagunes says he does not think the unemployment benefits are the only factor keeping people out of the workforce. But, he says, they are making it easier for people on the margin to stay home or to come back to work at a slower pace. "The beneficiaries of this are going to be the worker. That’s fine by me. There are so many other factors that work to put more of the power on the employers than the employees," he says. Read more in the Syracuse.com article, "An epidemic of open jobs and the unemployed in CNY; for many, work doesn’t work anymore."