The vast majority of reader feedback on this story falls in one of two camps:

Employers who say economists are wrong, because they can’t get their employees to come back OR employees saying they don’t have jobs to go back to yet. https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-600-a-week-in-extra-unemployment-aid-deterring-people-from-seeking-work-11596015000

One woman said she’s been a crossing guard w/ the same employer for 12 yrs. Her employer didn’t report her wages correctly, so she’s only receiving about half of what she should - $155/week, before the extra $600. “I would like to be back at work, but the schools aren’t safe.”

The head of an industrial staffing firm in the Midwest says clients are “crying for employees that we can’t find. Yet there are over a million people on unemployment” in the state.

The owner of two dental offices in New York says there is “uniform consensus” among his peers that the $600 benefit “has damaged many offices.” He said the policy has also poisoned the atmosphere between employers and employees, but didn’t elaborate.

A reader who works as a cook at a behavioral health agency said she is extremely thankful for the benefits. She’s still on furlough and hoping to return.

“But aren’t we supposed to stay home to contain the virus? It’s all very challenging and confusing.”

An employer in manufacturing, located in the northeast, said jobs in the $11-$13/hr range have gone infilled for the past eight weeks. He said he hears the same from contacts across the country. “Thus stimulus money is encouraging people to stay home.”

I did hear from a couple of essential workers who said, essentially, it’s not fair that many unemployed people are earning more than 100% of their previous wage. “We feel cheated,” one said. “We don’t have a choice to stay home and be safe for our families.”

Another reader who says her hours were cut in half is receiving partial benefits($57/week) plus the $600. What little is left goes into savings, she said. “I want to go back to working full time, but I can’t if my company is still struggling along with everyone else.”