Neighborhood Ministries

Bidens new rules defining who is a contractor and who is an employee will effect millions of workers. The rules are designed to tighten the rules about contracting and will hurt women and the elderly the most. Many small organizations cannot afford to hire someone full-time. They either don’t need that much work or they only need someone temporarily to handle a short-term project. It is necessary for those workers to contract with multiple companies to ensure adequate work.  The new rules will force many agencies and companies to go without vitally needed workers because many workers have families to support and cannot commit to an undependable income. In addition. many women have families or are caregivers for family members and cannot work full time.  Many elderly either cannot work full-time due to health or choose not to work full time so they can enjoy their retirement. Many companies and agencies want more hours than they can put in, but cannot find sufficient workers to work full-time. As a result, they must  contract with multiple workers. The new rules will force many workers to give up working because they will no longer be able to do the work on a contract basis.  Working arrangements should be worked out between workers and employers dictated by a free market in stead of forced by bureaucrats who have no understanding on the market. The new rules are being pushed by politicians who get large donations from labor unions who are seeking to extend their control over more of the market. Unions have achieved great power over companies and government agencies by organizing their workers, however manufacturing, which has formed the backbone of union control is declining as more manufacturing becomes automated or moves overseas where it is out of the union’s control. As a result, they are seeking to expand into new areas. While unions can force contracts where all workers must join the union, contract workers are outside the union’s control since they are not actually employees of the company.

One of my major concerns is that large numbers of people go long periods of time seeking jobs with little success while there are large numbers of jobs that go unfilled due to a lack of applicants. The job market has changed drastically in the past few years but most people seeking jobs still seek a job the old way which no longer works well. Many job openings are never publicized but are circulated among a small number of people because of the number of people looking for jobs. I meet many church people who are looking for work and sit in church with other church members who know about job openings but don’t know that the person next to them is looking for work. Churches need to find ways to bring those seeking jobs together with job openings. Many job opportunities I hear of go unfilled for a long time. I publish some of the job opportunities on my website that are widespread needs for those looking for work. Churches could do something similar or have a member who works with those who are unemployed and puts out regular requests for job opportunities that the congregation may be aware of. See my video on You Tube on ministering to the unemployed. The link is on our website at neighborhoodministries.net