After the abysmal jobs report last week, and the obvious connection of federally-subsidized, enhanced unemployment benefits helping to depress the labor market, my colleague Nick Arama wrote:

It means that the government is basically paying you more to stay home than you would get if you were working.

Joe Biden said he didn’t see any problem with that and he didn’t think that that was a factor why people weren’t going back to work. Oh, and he also said it was a major factor. I know, it makes no sense, but that’s Joe Biden.

Biden then basically admitted that he really did think it was a factor when he said he was going to enforce requiring people to take a job if it is offered to them, if they are getting unemployment benefits.

WATCH: Restaurant owner who is offering *free college tuition* for new workers says enhanced UI is causing the labor shortage.

"I’ve had several people say, 'when I can’t get unemployment anymore we’ll come back'…we're competing with that unemployment rate." pic.twitter.com/kjYSDd4UTk

— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) May 11, 2021

Governors are not waiting for the Biden administration to make up their mind, nor should they. Eighteen of them have moved to remove the enhanced portion of $300.00 a week. All Republicans, of course. They are staggering the termination dates, but most will have eliminated the added benefit by September.

It has become clear to me that we cannot have a full economic recovery until we get the thousands of available jobs in our state filled. pic.twitter.com/PHGU27c9Mj

— Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) May 10, 2021

Along with Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, the others are: Kay Ivey of Alabama, Doug Ducey of Arizona, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Brad Little of Idaho, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Mike Parson of Missouri, Greg Gianforte of Montana, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Bill Lee of Tennessee, Spencer Cox of Utah, Mark Gordon of Wyoming, Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, and Jim Justice of West Virginia.

Alaska, Arizona, and North Dakota are keeping the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits for independent contractors and gig workers, while Arizona, Montana, Ohio, and a few others will offer return-to-work bonuses, upwards of $2,000, to further incentivize workers to get reemployed.

Arizona is being the most generous and providing funds to cover three months’ worth of child-care costs to individuals who return to work and earn less than $25 an hour at their new job. That is a state’s right, and with more in-depth knowledge of their market, demographic, and labor market, these policies should be set by the states, not the federal government.

While some citizens see this as a necessary part of getting back to normal, others are extremely unhappy with their particular governor’s decision.

Thank goodness for real leadership. The pandemic is waning. No reason to not get back to work. Follow the science. Stopping the supplementation of unemployment is a sensible and necessary step!!

— Robert Wilson (@rpwilsonjr) May 16, 2021

The number of people who have said to me “we can’t hire anyone because they won’t come off unemployment” to me this weekend….I want to throw things. PAY YOUR EMPLOYEES YOURE PART OF THE PROBLEM

— master of business….all of it (@AndrewJMo91) May 16, 2021

Neither the Biden administration nor these governors talk about the other fallout from the enhanced benefits: Special needs and disabled individuals who have been lacking workers to provide essential services. This industry has been uniquely hit by a shortage of workers, who are either unable or unwilling to do the job.

This is also a problem rooted in government subsidy, as explained by the Detroit Free Press:

Most home care workers get an hourly wage of $9.50 to $12 an hour, with no benefits, including no paid sick time, and no health insurance. Medicaid sets the basic wage, and states that want to pay workers more have to find ways to come up with the extra money.

Many in direct care work more than one job: one that offers health insurance, and their direct care job. Retention is a huge problem for agencies that assign the workers.

Then there are those who have no concept about free-market economics.

I get that in order for civilization to keep on going we can't have most people not working, but instead of threatening to cut off their unemployment if they don't take a "suitable job", how about making businesses pay them fairly? That would incentivised them to work.

— Rob Brown ⏳🕊️🍀 (@XSiveVerbosity) May 16, 2021

This person admits they have a concept, but fails to see the disconnect between their voting and the difficulty of achieving a solution:

It was for me and I thoroughly enjoyed my brief unemployment but I didn’t want a 1 yr gap on my resume where I obviously just lived on unemployment on purpose. I’ll still vote Biden over republicans, but enhanced ui is an obvious deterrent for getting a job.

— caaarrrrllll (@caaarrrrllll3) May 11, 2021

So much anger towards those evil Republicans. However, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, who the last time I checked was a Democrat, just announced that he was also ending enhanced benefits:

JOBLESS BENEFITS: Pennsylvania has made the decision to end extended jobless benefits as the unemployment rate has fallen below 5%. https://t.co/Sc2OZ09okA

— KDKA (@KDKA) May 16, 2021

Pennsylvania has made the decision to end state extended unemployment benefits.

The program provided an extra 13 weeks of benefits to those that have exhausted their traditional unemployment benefits.

According to the state, the decision was made because unemployment fell below 5%.

Good. Time to go back to work and quit sucking the government dry.

— Fieldsy Sanders (@FieldsySanders) May 16, 2021

Yes, quit sucking the government dry. That would be you and me, Joe and Jane taxpayer. But that goes both ways.

With the Biden administration and the Senate pushing the PRO Act, The Worker Flexibility and Small Business Protection Act, and the Department of Labor’s removal of the Independent Contractor rule, the government also needs to stop the overregulation, overreach, and the Big Labor attempt at the wholesale takeover of individuals’ freedom to work as they choose.