Workers Denying Jobs

With unemployment at 9.1 percent, you would think jobless workers might jump at the chance to get a paying gig, but one El Paso business owner who’s hiring says he’s come across a bunch of people who prefer to stay home and live off unemployment benefits.

John Pinney owns Delta Unlimited and he’s getting frustrated trying to hire workers. He says he has plenty of jobs available, but keeps getting rejected by potential employees.

“One of the guys told me, I can go swimming with my kids, be the daycare and not have to pay a cent, said Pinney. He says he’s been shocked by what he’s heard from people he wants to hire for his lawn and pest control company, “They told me they were better off with some of the benefits they were getting than the benefits that we provide.”

Pinney had to lay off some people when a government contract he had was put on hold. Recently, when it started again, Pinney called some of his old employees, but he says, “They’re happier getting unemployment than going out and working.”

Lisa Givens is the spokeswoman for Texas Workforce Commission in Austin. She says that’s not how unemployment insurance benefits are supposed to work, “The idea of the system is to lessen the economic impact, receive temporarily financial help in order to help get them through.”

Initial claims of unemployment benefits — paid for by taxes of employers — can last six months, but the Obama administration extended benefits — paid for by the federal government — for a maximum of two years.

Pinney says he can’t compete with that, “They’re better off getting 70% of their pay than showing up every morning to work. It is becoming a lifestyle.”

“Eventually, the system is set up to catch situations where people maybe are receiving unemployment that shouldn’t,” said Givens.

Pinney says he’s even voiced his concerns to Congressman Silvestre Reyes’s office. If you know of someone who’d like to apply, full-time jobs at Delta pay between eight and 16-dollars an hour.

www.deltaunlimited.com