> if we so often hear about how corporations have the money to pay more, and they’re simply using it to line corporate pockets, wouldn’t they rather pay a livab

> if we so often hear about how corporations have the money to pay more, and they’re simply using it to line corporate pockets, wouldn’t they rather pay a livable wage to employees over shutting down restaurants, businesses, etc. entirely? If they were perfectly rational actors, sure. But businesses and corporations aren't real, they're fake entities that exist just to shield owners from liability. The actual owners of these things are humans, with human emotions just like any other person. What we're seeing is owners getting angry, and refusing to pay fair wages despite the fact that it makes them less profitable to be upset like this. Depending on how they choose to vent their anger, it is sometimes labeled as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_strike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_strike > how is it that only now employees are realizing they can make more money from unemployment than working They aren't -- employees aren't making more money from unemployment than working. They're just realizing "working" isn't really working (it costs more money to go to work, than most of these companies will pay them back in wages). You could eliminate all unemployment entirely, this situation would not change at all. > Was it just the absurd amounts of money being pumped from stimulus checks? No. The stimulus checks had tiny, paltry amounts of cash, and also ended months ago. Some unemployment benefits existed for longer, but they are also running out (or already have, depending on your state). Either way, the situation won't change at all when that ends, because the problem has nothing to do with outside checks. The problem is that in many places in the US, it costs workers more money to show up to work, than they earn from doing that days work. Why would you go punch a clock at Taco Bell, if you ended up poorer every day for working? If after a hard days work, you had less money on you than you did the day before? You wouldn't, no rational person would do this. But that's the actual reality in much of the US today, which is why a lot of people simply aren't doing these jobs anymore. If Taco Bell pays you $14/hr, but it costs you $20/hr just to be able to show up to work at all (that's a realistic number in many cities today), then you lose $6/hr for every hour you work. You are, effectively, donating money to a for-profit corporation. Most rational folks aren't going to be happy to do that, so they aren't taking those "jobs" anymore.