"Mr. Ukueberuwa encourages us to fret about "mass worklessness," with record numbers of people choosing to stay home rather than take jobs. Mr. Eberstadt says people are retiring "prematurely" and many, Mr. Ukueberuwa writes, lead "bleak, idle lives" and "probably would have been happier working." He says we need to "stigmatize idleness."
I would frame the matter differently: For people to agree to perform hired labor, they must be offered an attractive contract. If "managers everywhere are still waiting by their phones," it is because they have not internalized Economics 101. They evidently do not realize that if you want something in a market, you must pay the going rate. If people are choosing not to work, preferring leisure, they would not "probably have been happier working." If that were true, they would work.
To get them to alter their rational, self-interested calculus, employers must offer more attractive working arrangements: higher pay, more generous benefits, pleasant conditions and even unions. Workers' labor is not something employers are entitled to out of generosity. If you want people to make different choices in a market, you must figure out their price and pay it.
Nathan J. Robinson
Editor in chief, Current Affairs
New Orleans” [1]
1. Facing Up to 'Mass Worklessness' in America
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 29 Jan 2022: A.12.
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