The day before last Fridayâs disappointing jobs report, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster followed Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte in calling on their respective states to end their participation in covid-related unemployment programs. In both cases, the two Republicans cited worker shortages in their states to explain their decisions. Contrary to the way things may appear, the United States isnât suffering a jobs shortage so much as it is suffering a shortage of people willing to work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report, which comes out the first Friday of every month, apparently caught financial wizards by surprise with its unexpectedly low numbers. Employers created only about one-fourth of the 1 million jobs economists had been expecting. Reacting to the numbers, many commentators were careful not to say what was obvious to McMaster and Gianforte: Giving away money and other goods has a predictable and undesirable effect on human incentive.