In this commentary at the Huffington Post, Robert Garcia of National Public Radio expresses his outrage about the views of a JP Morgan analyst Michael Feroli who, in a research note, argues that jobless benefits are causing an even bigger unemployment problem.

Outrage #1
Go ahead, Michael Feroli, please share your great economic wisdom with us:

“Jobless benefits have the potential to increase the unemployment rate through two channels. First, by softening the blow of losing a job, they allow unemployed persons to become more selective in what job offer they accept, thereby raising the average duration of unemployment and increasing the unemployment rate.”

Oh, yes, the economy is creating so many employment opportunities that people are in a position to be “selective?” What planet is this wanker living on? There are several hundred, in some cases, several thousand, applicants per job opening. JP Morgan’s resident economic genius apparently thinks it’s the other way around and that there are hundreds of job offers for every unemployed person.

Outrage #2
Let’s now go to the other leg of his hypothesis:

“Second, jobless benefits may encourage people who would otherwise drop out of the labor force to be counted as jobseekers and therefore in the labor force.”

In his breathlessly illogical construct, Mr. Feroli is saying that because in order to receive jobless bennies you have to show you are looking for work, you are counted as a member of the job force and that makes the nation’s official unemployment rate higher. Note to Feroli: If you drop out of the labor force you are still jobless.

There’s more here about a report that probably didn’t raise eyebrows at one of the world’s biggest banks, but, when viewed through a more populist lens makes that particular bank seem even more cold and inconsiderate than they already are. That is, if that’s possible.