Missouri's experience since Parson's order—which has
succeeded in quickly kicking residents off benefits—suggests that factors other than enhanced unemployment aid are keeping people from returning to work in the state, from lack of child care to employers' refusal to pay living wages to pandemic-related fears. Missouri is currently the
U.S. hot spot for the ultra-contagious delta variant of Covid-19.
The
Times reported Sunday that hardly anyone showed up at a recent job fair in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights, where the employment opportunities on offer included a $10.30-an-hour position at a home healthcare agency—with no benefits.
"An ice rink, concert, and entertainment center was looking for 80 people, paying $10.30 to $11.50 for customer service representatives and $13 for supervisors. But the jobs last just through the busy season, a few months at time, and the schedules, which often begin at 5 am, change from week to week," the
Times noted. "In St. Louis, a single person needs to earn $14 an hour to cover basic expenses at a minimum standard, according to
M.I.T.’s living-wage calculator. Add a child, and the needed wage rises just above $30. Two adults working with two children would each have to earn roughly $21 an hour."
