Log In
The SunBreak
posted 11/18/10 11:22 AM | updated 11/18/10 11:28 AM
Featured Post! | Views: 861 | Comments : 3 | Politics

Tens of Thousands in State May Lose Federal Unemployment Benefits

By Michael van Baker
Editor
Recommend this story (0 votes)
Report abuse |
Share

On November 30, two federal unemployment programs are set to expire: Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits. HuffPo notes that while the House has a vote coming up on an extension, the Senate has nothing on its schedule, so it is likely that--across the country--hundreds of thousands will no longer get unemployment checks. 

Here in Washington State, the Employment Security Department's Jeff Robinson told me that the high-end estimate is that some 50,000 to 55,000 workers will have exhausted their emergency, longterm benefits by the end of the month. (That's a cumulative number, counting since Congress implemented Emergency Unemployment Compensation in July 2008. "More than 25,000 already had exhausted their benefits as of Oct. 31," the ESD told legislative committees yesterday.) 

There are tiers to unemployment payments these days, after the unemployed worker has exhausted the state's typical 13 to 26 weeks of unemployment insurance. Federal emergency extensions have created four tiers totaling 53 additional weeks of benefits. ESD has created an "Impending Storm Workgroup," to help deal with the thousands of people losing a weekly income and to explain to people counting on those "extra" weeks that things have changed: Anyone who files a new claim after November 27 will be limited to 46 weeks of benefits.

What has not changed is Washington's unemployment rate, which refuses to budge from nine percent (9.1 percent if you want to enjoy an imaginary granularity; a year ago, the rate was 9.2 percent). Perhaps because this month is my birthday, the Seattle Times put Sanjay Bhatt to the task of surveying the state's unemployment situation, and the result is grim--18 percent of state residents are "underemployed"--but more inclusive in context, and accurate, than the Times has been inclined to dish up previously. 

Desiree Phair, the state's economist for King County, said she believes a longer-term shift may be under way among employers toward contract labor instead of permanent hires. "I've heard enough anecdotes that I'm starting to seriously consider the possibility," she said.

So far this year, Washington has seen a net gain of 6,000 jobs. The private sector added 10,200 jobs, but those gains were offset by losses in government jobs.

Washington had 8,500 fewer jobs in October than it did a year ago, a 0.3 percent decrease, Employment Security reported. The nation recorded 0.6 percent growth over the same period.

What you see, unsurprisingly, is that Washington's unemployment rate has not gotten worse primarily because people have turned to part-time and significantly lower-paying jobs. They're not unemployed, per se, but they may not be able to pay for things like health insurance or mortgages or car payments. Now the state faces an additional influx of people who can't pay for anything at all. 

Save and Share this article
Permalink
Tags: ui, esd, unemployment, economy, underemployed, federal, emergency, benefits, tiers + add tags
savecancel
CommentsRSS Feed
pa unemployed
as of 11/20 i will still have 1664.00 left of my 26 weeks of state because i have been working 3 part time jobs to extend my bank until i find full time work. i'm told i will not make the deadline for federal unemployment. the past month i've had three interviews for jobs, two i did not get and one job offer out of state but the salary is not enough to except. by the end of january i'll be into my savings.
Comment by tim gardner
1 month ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( reply )
75 weeks and still no job
Yup - looks like I'm still fucked for the foreseeable future. I cant get ANYONE to call me back, even low end, anyone can do them jobs like Starbucks and McDonalds - 11 years of software testing and programming experience and I cant even get a "Would you like fries with that" job.

And now the government pulls the rug out from under me. Thanks!
Comment by Tony
1 month ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( reply )
Failure to extend benefits = Great Depression 2
1. The rebs have chanted : Are you listening to American people ?
　
The majority of Americans support the idea of extending unemployment benefits to the jobless, according to a poll out from Hart Research Associates.
Nearly three-quarters of the 802 registered voters surveyed agreed that it was "too early to start cutting back benefits for workers who lost their jobs."
　
2. Are the reps listening to America people ?
　
According to CNN polling, voters said that unemployment is roughly twice as important as all other top issues combined.
Despite the fact that unemployment remains above nine percent, the incoming House majority has made it clear that jobs and unemployment are not at the top of their to-do list.
　
3. Are the reps listening to the outcry from their conscience ?
　
(a). The reps shipped decent-paying manufacturing jobs overseas to lower production costs and eliminated the need to comply with those pesky environmental laws.
　
(b). The recession caused by the reps wiped out as many as 8.2 million jobs, but they don't care !
　
(c). Throwing people out into the streets in the cold this holiday season, the heartless, cold-blooded death panels are having a good night's sleep.
　
(d). Never before has Congress decided to cut-off extended unemployment benefits when the jobless rate was so high. And not since the 1930s have so many unemployed job-seekers been out-of-work for so long.
　
(e). The 154 members who voted against the extension may find their principles are very costly indeed—far more than the $12.5 billion their yea votes would have cost.
　
4. Are the reps listening to the various reports ?
　
(a). Ending federal extensions would drain the economy of $80 billion of purchasing power, according to a report by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee. Every dollar spent on benefits increases the gross domestic product by $1.60, the report said.
　
“Workers receiving unemployment insurance payments are typically cash-strapped and will spend their benefits quickly,” the report said. They spend about $6.5 billion a month on the local economy to buy essentials such as food, clothing and utilities.
　
“A failure to extend the unemployment insurance program could hamper the fragile recovery,” the report said. It predicts that consumer spending will fall by $50 billion over the next year if benefits are not extended, and that economic growth will be reduced by 0.4 percentage points by February 2011.
　
(b). Bloomberg News reported that some economists estimate not passing an extension might result in the economy growing 0.4 percent less between December and February, a significant bite when GDP growth has been hovering in the anemic 2 percent rage
　
(c). The CBO reports that the BEST WAY to spur growth is to increase aid to the unemployed. Other efficient ways to grow the economy is by investing in infrastructure and providing more aid to the states.
The CBO also says that without extensions in 2009, the poverty rate might be 15.4 percent, more than a full point higher than it is.
　
(d). A similar report from the California Budget Project said that unemployment benefits put $225 million into the nation’s economy every day in 2010.
　
Some economists worry that if jobless workers keep receiving extensions, they will stop looking for work. But the dearth of jobs in the labor market makes that point moot, the California Budget Project said.
　
“Cutting off federally supported unemployment insurance benefits would make unemployed workers more desperate to find work, but it would not make them more likely to find work, because jobs are scarce,” the report said.
　
At a time when there are five unemployed workers for every available job, it seems inconceivable that these unemployment benefits would be allowed to expire.
　
5. Are the reps listening to the denouncement over their duplicity, two standards ?
　
(a). The Bush tax cut for the greedy without providing a way to pay for its costs will add an additional $700 billion to the deficit over a decade,
　
(b). Republicans have trumpeted the need to extend huge tax breaks to the wealthy and to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Both actions would significantly increase our nation's debt and lead us down the road to bankruptcy, another major concern for voters.
　
(c). On the one hand they want to provide $700 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest, but not pay for them. On the other hand they demand that unemployment benefits for the middle class be paid for. It’s kind of like someone on a diet ordering a Diet Coke and a Big Mac simultaneously.
　
(d). Back when Bush was pushing his tax cut packages through Congress in 2001 and 2003, supporters said the cuts (which weren't balanced with spending reductions) would initiate an era in which the American economy would grow so robustly the nation would be running a surplus of more than $5 trillion at the scheduled expiration date. U.S. now runs a deficit of about $1.3 trillion
In sharp contrast, Former President Bill Clinton left a record surplus, despite the warning of potential economic disaster over tax increase for the wealthiest.
　
(e). Since the you-fix-the-deficit puzzle went online, there have been more than one million page views, and more than 11,000 posted Twitter messages about the puzzle, most including their own solution.
The most popular option among all respondents? Reducing the military to less than its size before the Iraq war — included in about 80 percent of the solutions posted to Twitter.
Comment by hsr0601
1 month ago
( 0 votes)
( report abuse ) ( reply )
Add Your Comment
Name:
Email:
(will not be displayed)
Subject:
Comment: