# Why are people reproducing like rabbits? TAX checks FOOD stamps & more fun benefits! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 29, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-reproducing-like-rabbits-tax-checks-food-stamps-more-fun-benefits/800168 "2017-10-29T19:33:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 54
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-reproducing-like-rabbits-tax-checks-food-stamps-more-fun-benefits/800168/54 "2017-10-31T21:19:33Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Most people work part-time because employers would have to pay benefits to full time workers. For a while people like this were called the “29ers” because the ACA said that anyone working 30 hours a week or more counted as full-time and thus were eligible for health benefits. So, employers started handing out 29 hour work weeks. I do not know if that has been adjusted since a few years ago but shows employers will work pretty hard to avoid paying workers and leave you and me with the bill (if those workers end up in the hospital unable to pay their bills that cost is carried by you and me). More ammunition for separating healthcare from employment. That 30th hour is expensive. But you’re referencing a small part of the workforce. U-6 minus U-5 was 3.2% last month (seasonally adjusted). > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Many part-time employees work more than one job to make ends meet. > [@How do women in poverty become obese?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/74): > > Data on multiple jobholders from BLS: [https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat36.htm](https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat36.htm) > > About 7.5MM in 2016, 5% of jobholders. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > And as it happens most people work if they can. The US is currently at [full employment](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/upshot/we-may-be-closer-to-full-employment-than-it-seemed-thats-bad-news.html) (that number is a bit of a gray area but at [4.2% unemployment](https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000) we are close no matter how you slice it). This means the labor market is about at capacity. That there are a [record number of job openings](http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/20/news/companies/walmart-holiday-help/index.html) in the market recently backs that up. And U-6 is 8.3%; it hasn’t been this low since 2007 --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-reproducing-like-rabbits-tax-checks-food-stamps-more-fun-benefits/800168)._