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Comment by howmayiannoyyou | Hacker News Reader

Catch22 -

From the quoted CNN article: "...the generous pandemic-era unemployment benefits that have already ceased in multiple states will run out in September, which could affect the rate of hiring as well."

Part of the burnout (certainly not all, perhaps not even a majority) is the extra load working Americans are taking to offset the voluntarily unemployed.

Somehow, I suspect many states will extend these benefits beyond September until Congress & State legislatures can enact legislation that assigns benefits to those truly in need vs. electively unemployed... if that's even possible.

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> Part of the burnout (certainly not all, perhaps not even a majority) is the extra load working Americans are taking to offset the voluntarily unemployed.

This pattern matches against a common strategy the elite use to keep everyone else complacent - turn them on each other. Be careful with easy answers to hard problems.

This idea presumes a few things: 1. Tech workers are burning out due to 'extra load' because of staffing issues at companies. 2. The staffing and workload issues are due to tech workers being voluntarily unemployed.

The first is probably very true. But tech companies have always ran as bare thin of a crew that they could to meet output requirements, which is why you can find content on tech burnout all the way back to the dotcom era and probably before.

The second is, in my mind, untenable. The kinds of salaries that a tech worker makes is wildly different from the amount that unemployment covers. In my state unemployment would barely be half of my salary, and thats with the added covid benefits. I strongly, strongly doubt there is even a small fraction of people willing to take that kind of paycut in exchange for pure idling.

> I strongly, strongly doubt there is even a small fraction of people willing to take that kind of paycut in exchange for pure idling.

Me too. And the data from the states that have stopped the extra unemployment benefits appears to back this up. In the job market as a whole in those states, the percentage of people who were staying out of the job market because of extra unemployment benefits appears to be very small, judging by the fact that there wasn't a big rush to take jobs when the benefits ended.

There's more than just economics going on here.

> Part of the burnout (certainly not all, perhaps not even a majority) is the extra load working Americans are taking to offset the voluntarily unemployed.

Maybe better to focus on paid time off and sick leave. The companies can afford it, regardless of what they say..

I don't think individual states will meaningfully extend benefits. Only the federal government can print money to pay for it.

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