A piece from the Washington Post over the weekend sets out the issue at the center of the American economy right now: “There are 10 million job openings, yet more than 8.4 million unemployed are still actively looking for work.”
There’s one obvious explanation for this imbalance, which is that the government is paying people to not work. As of yesterday, the federal unemployment-insurance supplement has officially ended. The expiration of that $300-per-week benefit should push some people currently on the margin into available jobs.
But don’t expect any massive swings in the employment numbers when next month’s jobs report comes out. There’s …