by Anne Schlafly Cori, Chairman, Eagle Forum
On vacation in a resort town, I noticed that every business had a "Help Wanted" sign in the window. Some businesses had even limited their hours at the height of their season and some were closing shop before the end of the tourist season. Where are the workers?
Millions of Americans who lost employment in March 2020 still have not gone back to work, despite the surfeit of job opportunities. Most are women. The labor force participation of women is at a 33-year low. Since many women prefer part-time work, the service, retail, and hospitality industries are most affected by the current worker shortage.
The dearth of Americans who want to be employed is due to several factors, including generous government benefits. The Biden direct-to-the-bank-account $300 per month per child free money is a great incentive not to work. Since that payout is due to expire at the end of 2021, more Americans may decide to re-enter the labor force in 2022.
I think the real reason that many women have opted out of the workforce is because they are unhappy with their children's education. According to a recent poll by Rasmussen, 34 percent of Americans rate public schools as poor. Parents are taking a more active role in their children's education, including participating in school board meetings and learning about just what nonsense is in the public school curriculum. Plus, a number of parents oppose masking their children all day.
As a result, homeschooling has increased. The number of children being homeschooled has doubled to 400,000 kids this school year. The responsibility for that teaching job mostly falls on mothers. Homeschooled children are no longer perceived as the socially awkward fringe families.
Parents now have the extra time to examine the course work, even at tony private schools. The Dalton School, a private K-12 school in New York City, has a proposal to abolish any advanced course in which black students performed worse than students who are not black.
Perhaps there will be a silver lining to the pandemic shutdown!
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