By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – July 24, 2021 At the present time there is a surplus of jobs in Del Norte County. The question then becomes why is there anyone in the County that can not find a job? Why is the unemployment rate 7.95% in June of 2021, 1,000 job openings, and there remains 750 people looking for work? None of the employment related bureaucracies seemed to have the answer. Help wanted signs abound in many local businesses, so what is the problem? Granted, treating and paying employees well is a good way to retain those you currently have, but raising prices to make that happen will only get you so far. With inflation trending upwards at an ever rapid rate, raising prices may not coordinate with happy employees as they themselves feel the sting of increasing prices in their everyday world. One would think that people who deal with employment on a regular basis would also be armed with the answers to why there are more jobs available than workers to fill the positions. Clearly that is not the case, at least locally. Higher minimum wages, experienced here in California an other states would likely depress the ability of employers to reach out for more workers. Paying workers more money to retain them can only occur when the business is doing well enough to allow for the increase. In fairness businesses have increased their sales with the relaxing of restrictions caused by the Pandemic, yet work participation is at the lowest level for many decades, so why the reluctance of people to go back to work? Speaking with a former employee who was laid off in April of 2020 and still remains jobless, she admitted that current conditions make her unwilling to return to work without losing nearly $800 in income by returning to her former job. Combinations of unemployment, rent relief, and unemployment subsidies have pushed her monthly income to exceed that she had previously made full time. This has made it difficult to justify returning to her old job and looking for any new work. She candidly went on to admit several of her friends find themselves in a similar state. Why work, when money to remain unemployed has become so freely available? A strong incentive not to work and leave many jobs unfilled. This experience not only affects those working in entry level positions, but appears to have the same effect on many more technical and demanding jobs that also are experiencing labor shortages. With the "emergencyness" of the pandemic beginning to unravel, and most folks wanting to just get on with their lives, perhaps it is time for local, State, and Federal governments to get out of the "Pandemic Relief Business". The unintended consequences of the nanny state appear to be a large part of why people are not going back to work. While it appears to be a great mystery for those that should know better, no one can fault those that sit at home, bills taken care of by government extravagance, without the headache of going to work. Mystery solved?