U.S. employers are still struggling to find workers six weeks after enhanced federal jobless benefits expired, but that doesn’t mean Republicans are letting President Biden off the hook.

The National Federation of Independent Business reported last week that a record 51% of small-business owners had openings in September that they could not fill, a 48-year high, even though the boost in unemployment benefits ended on Labor Day. The shortage indicates that other factors are at play.

Among them are a rash of accelerated retirements, a soaring personal savings rate, ongoing coronavirus fears and unsettled child care and schooling situations. Mr. Biden is coming under fire for vaccine mandates and juiced social welfare payments that go beyond the now-defunct Pandemic Unemployment Assistance relief.

“That’s not the only thing that they added. They added a number of other welfare programs, and they got rid of the welfare-to-work requirements,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, said Oct. 10 on “Fox News Sunday.”

Those benefits included a July increase in the annual child tax credit from $2,000 per child to $3,600 for every child younger than 6 and $3,000 for older children — with no work requirement — and raising the cutoff age from 16 to 17.