Speaker Philip Gunn urges crack down on Mississippi unemployment benefits
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May 10—TUPELO — Speaker of the House Philip Gunn is urging Gov. Tate Reeves to curtail the number of Mississippians receiving unemployment benefits and force them back to work.
UPDATE: Gov. Tate Reeves ending pandemic-linked unemployment benefits
In a letter dated Monday and obtained by the Daily Journal, Gunn asked the governor to take one of two courses: strictly enforce job search requirements for those receiving unemployment benefits or end the state's participation in a pandemic-linked federal expansion of joblessness benefits.
Gunn cited the example of Montana and South Carolina, states which will cut short the benefits available to the unemployed. Arkansas has announced plans to do the same, as has Alabama,
"It is time for Mississippi to take steps to ensure that unemployment is only available to those who legitimately cannot find work," Gunn wrote.
Under the American Rescue Plan, signed into law in March, the federal government provides a weekly supplement of $300, paid in addition to state benefits. In Mississippi, the maximum unemployment benefit paid by the state is $235.
In his letter, the House leader claims that, according to business owners with whom he has spoken, state officials are not adequately enforcing a requirement that those receiving unemployment benefits "demonstrate that they are unsuccessfully searching for work."
The GOP speaker further cited claims by unidentified business owners that they are operating at reduced capacity due to a shortage of workers. Across the country, some business and political leaders have claimed that larger unemployment benefits are causing people not to seek work.
Gunn did not identify the level of wages offered by the businesses that he says cannot find enough workers. One Democratic lawmaker says that inadequate wages are the root of worker shortages, not federal aid to the jobless.
"To ask people to go back to work for low wages instead of receiving a 'living wage' is asinine," said state Rep. Jeramey Anderson, D-Moss Point, on Twitter Monday afternoon.
Anderson said he intends to introduce a bill to raise the state's minimum wage of from the federally mandated $7.25 an hour to $9 an hour.
Northeast Mississippi's Rep. Nick Bain, R-Corinth, also took to Twitter, but he sided with Gunn's view of the situation.
