That’s not entirely true, the feds statements on raising unemployment really get lost in the broader context of what’s going on. I too was extremely skeptical of the theory of raising unemployment until I had it explained to me and there’s a very key thing to understand here. Unemployment numbers are not the exact equivalent of economic wellness. While they’re closely related there are some core differences that can be examined. Let’s take a theoretical 0% unemployment. Every single person that can have a job has one 100% of the time. That might sound good on paper but if other parts of the economy aren’t looking good can also indicate that people are working worse jobs because they can’t afford to spend time looking for something better, or better jobs don’t exist. Similarly 20% unemployment isn’t good either, it doesn’t mean 20% of the population can afford to be unemployed while looking for better digs, it can mean major economic unrest just chucked millions out of the work force.

Obviously raising unemployment rates in that context can be an easy masquerade for just wanting to nuke workers bargaining power, and probably is. Just know it’s not the only reason, nor will it intrinsically lead to a worse world. Or a world we can’t also continue to collectively bargain in. At the end of the day we do want people to be able to afford to not work for a time. It’s not good when people transitioning careers have to take a part time job at mcD’s to make ends meet.

Furthermore there are a lot of “workers” who are very overvalued. I’m obviously not talking about factory workers who haven’t seen a raise in 20 years, but like Silicon Valley tech gurus who make 300k at a startup. They’re technically workers too but have no solidarity with their fellows in the mines and shop floors. Trimming some fat in these areas would not be a bad thing.

All of this isn’t to shill for neoliberal economics, it’s still doing workers dirty even in the best of times, just that we should take a broader look at the countries economy. It’s not anti worker to say “of course I respect the fireman’s Union but I recognize that society would be better off having less fires even if that reduces the need for fireman and thus their bargaining power”