From Kentucky Lantern: Punitive Republican policies won’t whip Kentucky into prosperity
Improving the quality of life would make the state more appealing to workers and employers
By VANESSA GALLMAN
Why must someone laid off from a job be further penalized by the state? To be denied long-established unemployment benefits? To be pressured to take an available job rather than find one that advanced a career?
Yet Kentucky lawmakers decided the state must become a harsh taskmaster, snapping a whip to get people back into the workforce quickly, as if they are simply widgets to fill any hole.
Even in a year of high inflation and a possible recession. Even knowing that rural areas offer limited job opportunities. And outright ignoring that those who qualify for unemployment are workers — not those who choose to live on government aid.