Happy Unemployment Day

Listen to Dave Ross Commentary: Happy Unemployment Day

You can’t honestly call any holiday that gives workers a day off “Labor Day.” Not any more.

If you REALLY wanted to celebrate the American worker, you wouldn’t give him a day off, you’d give him a day ON.

Official unemployment is just over 9%, but unofficially, about 20% would like more work than they’re able to get, which means 20% of the work force have had just about all the days off they can stand.

And yet, I say again, you mean to tell me there isn’t something PRODUCTIVE that those 20% could be doing? Like everything’s running perfectly? There are no more potholes to repair, no parks to maintain, plenty of cops, plenty of teachers?

Of COURSE there’s plenty to do, but government-created jobs are of the devil, so we have to wait for naturally-created jobs to appear.

And wait. And wait.

We keep hearing that a lot of assembly jobs are never coming back, and that what unemployed people need to do, if they haven’t done it yet, is get a FOUR YEAR COLLEGE DEGREE.

So you’re 50 and out of work — go to college; then try again.

Ah, but imagine if Labor Day was a day when anyone who wanted labor — in the form of a job you could live on — could apply to the Labor Department, and be automatically assigned one for at least a year.

— A day when everyone who’s tired of days off could be guaranteed a year of REAL work at a decent wage while waiting for the private sector to wake up. That would do two things — give a lift to people who truly are discouraged, and reveal who REALLY wants to work.

THAT would be a Labor Day to remember.

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