source:Colorlines
Over four million Americans have been unemployed for 26 weeks or more. That’s a higher number than it was back in 2008,
when Congress created the emergency program for the longterm
unemployed. This is a striking fact that ought to make plain how
critical the situation is for millions of Americans today.
Underscoring how bad things are is the fact that 6 million Americans
have given up the job search and disappeared from the workforce all
together. Many of those have returned to school, while a bulk of the
frustrated job seekers have slipped into the “off the books” economy and
into poverty. If you count all of
these discouraged workers along with the officially unemployed and those
who’re underemployed in jobs below their skill level, the unemployment
rate almost doubles, from the official 7 percent to over 13 percent.
But these realities aren’t enough to sway key GOP leaders who are blocking the program. Sen. Rand Paul declared on Fox News Sunday just days ago that longterm unemployment insurance “does a disservice to those that you are trying to help.”
The key Republican argument hasn’t changed from the beginning of the
crash: that longterm unemployment insurance encourages jobseekers to
stay at home rather than pound the pavement. However, as The Economist points out, a recent paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found
that without unemployment insurance those looking for work would have
found a job slightly earlier—a week, to be exact—but they would have had
to endure four and a half months with no income support in the process
of finding it. READ MORE at Colorlines
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