Scapegoating unemployed is tired political trope. Here’s what works to fix labor shortages.

Generous benefits are not keeping people on the sidelines of employment. Michael Rosen and Charlie Dee Wisconsin’s labor shortage is not the result of lazy people gaming the unemployment system. Yet that’s the excuse Republican lawmakers used to pass, without a single Democratic vote, a series of bills intended to punish the mythical lazy workers, most notably by cutting unemployment insurance benefits to as few as 14 weeks and making it more difficult for those out of work to qualify for them. These politicians believe benefits are so generous that they discourage unemployed workers from seeking jobs. Accordingly, Rep. Alex Dallman, ...