Prolonged Aid to Unemployed Is Running Out

[undeterred]

Source: The New York Times

By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: August 1, 2009

Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution. Because of emergency extensions already enacted by Congress, laid-off workers in nearly half the states can collect benefits for up to 79 weeks, the longest period since the unemployment insurance program was created in the 1930s. But unemployment in this recession has proved to be especially tenacious, and a wave of job-seekers is using up even this prolonged aid.

Tens of thousands of workers have already used up their benefits, and the numbers are expected to soar in the months to come, reaching half a million by the end of September and 1.5 million by the end of the year, according to new projections by the National Employment Law Project, a private research group.

Unemployment insurance is now a lifeline for nine million Americans, with payments averaging just over $300 per week, varying by state and work history. While many recipients find new jobs before exhausting their benefits, large numbers in the current recession have been unable to find work for a year or more.

Calls are rising for Congress to pass yet another extension this fall, possibly adding 13 more weeks of coverage in states with especially high unemployment. As of June, the national unemployment rate was 9.5 percent, reaching 15.2 percent in Michigan. Even if the recession begins to ease, economists say, jobs will remain scarce for some time to come. “If more help is not on the way, by September a huge wave of workers will start running out of their critical extended benefits, and many will have nothing left to get by on even as work keeps getting harder to find,” said Maurice Emsellem, a policy director of the employment law project.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/us/02unemploy.html?hp

[stuball111]

1. I did my part...

Even though I was eligible, I decided not to take it. I sold a house, and was doing OK. Besides, I would have been taxed on it anyway.

[mother earth]

2. What the unemployed need are JOBS....

so many jobs have been outsourced, the ones left cannot be outsourced or by now they would've been, but then again, we've got imported workers who will work cheaper than US born and raised and a lot more part-time workers or temporary positions than ever before to avoid paying out benefits.

One thing that doesn't get mentioned about health care reform is that it could be the boon to jobs we so desperately need. The "green" jobs are very slow in coming.

[kimmylavin]

3. Exactly.

I wasn't laid off, I was moved to "on call."
I haven't worked in over a month, when I used to get 30 hours a week.

Why was I "reassigned"?
Well, I work for a California city government, and they were worried about the threat of the state government coming in and taking money from them.
So, apparently, the best way to avoid the state needing more money is to take people off city payroll and put them on state unemployment.

Makes perfect sense. :eyes:

[madrchsod]

5. i want a part time job and can`t find one

i`m drawing social security at 62 and need a part time job.

an interesting thing about social security administration is they have polite real americans answer the phone and -are you ready for this? my check is never late!

[madrchsod]

4. my unemployment is finished for now.

maybe i`ll be lucky and this winter the feds will reinstate the emergency benefits

[Beacool]

6. What's going to happen to this country????

I despair sometimes thinking about it. What are people going to do for money if they can't even get their unemployment benefits? There are no jobs sort to speak out there........

:(

[prolesunited]

7. No, we're all shiftless, lazy good-for-nothings

sucking off the teet of the government because we refuse to work -- or so say the tea baggers.

What I would like to see is a WPA-style program created that puts people to work while also doing good in the community. We still have evidence of WPA programs all around us, from trails to murals. People want the dignity of work. It will all cost the same, so why not get something out of it. Win-win.

[vadawg]

9. problem is will people be willing to bust their ass for the same amount of money

i grew up with a lot of people who were happy to have no money and sit around all day watching the TV or playing footie, but theres no way in hell they would have been happy with having to work for the same money, would we have to pay more money to people to do WPA or would you make it work for the same amount, would be interesting to see what would work..

would people be willing to build roads etc for $300 a week :shrug:

[Amos Moses]

11. A lot of people are used to working hard for

$300 a week. It's not at all uncommon.

[vadawg]

14. sorry i dont think i stated it well, the question is would people work for $300 a week

if they could get the same amount for sitting at home, im not sure that a lot of the people currently unemployed at the moment would even be suited to the building of infrastructure due to age, illness, physical condition etc, so it would be interesting to see if people would be prepared to work for the same amount of money (mayby backbreaking work) that they would get for not working...

[Amos Moses]

15. OK I get it.

good observation

[defendandprotect]

18. That's the point of an Unemployment guarantee . . . the jobs have to have appeal . . .

and not be questionable as to worth.

Pretty much everyone works when good jobs are there --

When they aren't there, we're all undermined by people jumping into a

downward spiral.

Did it help any of us that people began to work extended workdays?

[SeattleGirl]

19. Exactly. When I was unemployed, I was never told that I had to take

any job that came along. The person at the UE office who was assigned to me provided me some job leads, and they are all in my field, or a closely related one.

I was lucky enough to find work after only 2-1/2 months. I know many people who are not that fortunate, but as far as I'm concerned, unemployment is a benefit that people who have been laid off are entitled to. The whole attitude of people being lazy if they are getting UE bennies is bullcrap.

[vadawg]

20. come on you know as well as i do, there are always people who game the system

its human nature, now what about the WPA idea, would you if you were out of work take a job building paths or roads or would you only work in your field for comparable pay, this is the dilemma when it comes to WPA programs, are only the very desperate who are running out of benifits and no job prospects going to have to do the government work, or would everybody currently out of work have to pitch in..

Also what if you have never worked and dont plan to ever work should you still get unemployment with conditions or should you have to take a WPA position.

[mother earth]

28. Perhaps the system is "gamed" in good times, these times are

not times for games. It's incredibly difficult to find a comparable job in your field or any other, and how many people can hold out while the bills are still coming in? If you've never worked, or don't plan to, you would not be able to collect unemployment, if you have worked the unemp benefits are dismal in comparison, add to that you need to pay for insurance from those meagher $'s...it's no fun and games.

[glowing]

32. Well, unemployment is there for these times.. AND most people have

lost their jobs at a higher sallary than is currently being offered by the crap jobs that are left (think gas station attendant).. So, do you stop collecting the uemployment benefit at a larger pay to just go and work anything.. Or do you use that time to find a job with similar pay or to find perhaps a different type of job that appeals to you, esp. if you hated your last job.

If you live in some places in the country, there are NO jobs to be had. So, when a job comes up, everyone is looking to apply.

My dad is on unemployment as of now. Its been a month. He's had interviews, but no takers.. even though in better times, they'd take him... they just have so many to choose from. The last job he lost out to a woman... AND in that field, I think it does make the company look better to have found a qualified woman to do the job over himself, older white male. Its becoming nearly impossible for him to find the quota of jobs to apply for that is required by unemployment.

Why must a person who has worked all their lives and worked hard paying taxes and supporting the idiot shit our congresscritters come up with year after year and feel like they just have to take the next crap job thats out there for far less money than the unemployment bennies. For someone like my dad, he's going stir crazy. That man will never be able to retire. AND speaking of milking the system.. your pissed off at a few who'd take their time on unemployment or milk the system a bit, when companies like blackwater, halliburton, the Bush family criminal enterprise sit their and directly suck off the biggest teat? Screw that. People are more than their jobs and they are more than consumers and its time that this world starts viewing ALL humam beings as more than disposable commodities.

[defendandprotect]

21. We've had decades of unemployment and underemployment . . .

IMO all the figures should be challenged --

The right-wing changed so many of the statistics, from inflation rates to unemployment

rates.

I'm also very disappointed that we're hearing so little about the homeless - Reagan and

Bush homeless -- and impoverished children.

We have a long way to go yet --

:)

[glowing]

29. I work at a hotel. I have a degree in marine/ environmental science.

If there were a job that was govt run working on things like infrastructure type things or water works or any of the things I might be used for in a capacity that leads to building.. because you need environmental assessments.. and people who can go out and get dirty to test things etc... I would leave in a heart beat.. thereby freeing up a job that pays $30,000.00 for an AGM... that an older person who could not bear up to backbreaking work could do.. However, there is no big projects reving up that I could and would apply for and leave a spot opening for another. See, not everyone is suited, but there are others who would go to the backbreaking jobs and leave the store clerking or office sitting situation... then there would be spots that need filling.

[bemildred]

10. Well, if you really wanted a job, you would work for nothing.

:sarcasm:

[prolesunited]

12. Actually, there was a news segment suggesting just that

Older workers should do internships to gain new skill sets to help them compete. Sounds good but if you figure in commuting costs, it would actually cost YOU money to work for free. I guess I'm not that desperate yet.

[bemildred]

13. I don't doubt it.

"maybe, if you work hard enough, your employer would have an incentive to give you money to buy food"

[Zhade]

33. Remember how Obama spoke about such a thing for about, oh, five minutes?

That was before he voted to reward all those banksters who fucked up the economy.

[defendandprotect]

17. Corporations want to cut jobs and not pay into unemployment . . .

moving the burden onto others.

We need to overturn these trade agreements --

Thanks, Clinton!

[saigon68]

35. Welcome to MEXICO 2011

The Rich will control 99% of everything.

[bemildred]

8. No problem, just print more money like we did for the banks. nt

[defendandprotect]

16. They need to return to the original Welfare Guarantees/Full Unemployement Guarantees . . .

[XemaSab]

22. It's my two year anniversary

of the day I officially left full-time work.

[OKNancy]

23. kick

[lunatica]

24. Here's the graph that was in the article in the OP

[Triana]

25. No Recovery - worse than no recovery. n/t

[fasttense]

26. In Greene County TN, our unemployment rate is 16.5%.

Maybe some of them idiot Republicons (who dominate this county) will stop signing up for tea bagging parties and march on Washington to at least get health care. Or maybe they will just shut up and shoot up some more liberal churches. Who knows, but once we all lose our unemployment, there are going to be millions of people with nothing to eat, no where to live, and nothing to do.

[Amos Moses]

27. As long as the bankers stay bailed out

we'll be OK. I think Maury County had over 15% unemployment back during the spring. I'm sure it's higher now.

[ohio2007]

31. but the gobmit's MSM recently said the recession is over

guess those of us still working are about to get a tax levied on us by our "yes" men in DC.

[ohio2007]

30. maybe the bailed out bankers will pay their taxes on bonuses they got recently

oh

silly me,
they have tax lawyers fixing that detail

[YoungAndOutraged]

34. Why won't these lazy leeches just start their own business?

:sarcasm: All they have to do is read Atlas Shrugged and they'd know that anyone can start their own successful business just by wishing it to be so! Because of their unwillingness to work, people who make over $1 million a year are going to have to settle for lobster just six days a week! Its an outrage! :sarcasm:

[ohio2007]

36. 2 Obama administration officials can't guarantee middle-class Americans won't see tax hike

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-Obama-officials-No-apf-2491158742.html?x=0&.v=7



and thats why the middle class are slow to start up business plans. We know 'big buisness' offshores to beat the tax man so they are out of the equation.