Reducing Unemployment

There is much that does not make sense about the issue of public sector unions, or public sector workers at all for that matter. Consider three points:

San Diego pays $15/hr to the workers who maintain its grounds.
Private companies pay $12/hr to similar landscape workers.
California pays $400/wk and more to people who have no jobs

We are paying people $15/hr to mow our grass, and we are paying people to do nothing. If we had any sense, we would do one or the other, but not both. We would have no monetary unemployment program, because our public sector jobs would be our unemployment program. If you lose your private sector job you can come mow our grass and pickup our trash until you can get a better job in the private sector.

Mowing grass for the city would still pay $15/hr and it would still have medical benefits, but there would be no pension benefit other than your contribution to Social Security, because it is a temporary job, intended to last until you can return to the private sector.

The unemployed person has gainful work to perform, has medical care, and makes more income than unemployment insurance would provide. The taxpayer does have the cost of employer payroll taxes, but it saves the cost of the unemployment program and the public sector pensions. Private companies no longer pay unemployment tax. Everybody wins.