We live in a competitive society which prefers outcomes based on merit. Accordingly, most people agree that discrimination based on grounds other than merit is wrong. But, when should government intervene and make discrimination illegal? That's a good question which isn't nearly debated enough. And, I'm not going to spend the time tonight to analyze our various civil rights laws.
Instead just a brief comment on the current jobs proposal which the Obama administration is trying to get through Congress. For, one as-yet-not-well discussed provision of that jobs bill would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against the long-term unemployed.
People are unemployed for a variety of reasons. Some for performance-related reasons, but most not. It's a bad policy for any employer to lump the unemployed together and decide not to interview any of them for a job opening, preferring instead only those who are currently employed. Actually, I think you could probably make the argument that an employer would find a hungrier, harder working employee among the ranks of the unemployed than among those who would need to be coaxed out of a current job.
That said, government should tread carefully when it choses to make bad conduct illegal. It might make a nice sound bite on the campaign trail, but I hope most people see this proposal for the gimic that it is.
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