This is why MMT advocates for a public works employment program to replace the minimum wage and many benefits for the unemployed. By guaranteeing a livable wage with benefits that allow dignity as a right of being a citizen the people can continue to contribute through downturns in the business cycle.

Such a benefit, used as an automatic stabilizer, allows the currency-issuing federal government to inject new currency exactly where and when it is needed to shore up supply chains and provide local and state governments with the labor they need to serve them in whatever capacity they believe will improve quality of life. As long as the products needed/desired are being produced in the private sector or imported there is no need to connect that production with the ability to purchase it (demand/money).

This also provides private sector businesses with a stable of workers with their job and social skills intact. They simply need to overbid the wages and benefits of the program to enlarge their workforce when the business cycle turns up again. By granting the right of acceptance of the program to the individual worker the local/state governments cannot collude with businesses to blackmail workers into accepting substandard wages or conditions.