230,000 Americans Will Lose Unemploymen Benefits

[brotherplanet]

More Than 200,000 Americans Will Lose Their Unemployment Benefits This Weekend



According to a new report from the National Employment Law Project, 230,000 Americans will see their unemployment benefits vanish this weekend, even as the jobless rate remains stubbornly high. Nearly half of those losing their benefits live in California, where the unemployment rate is 11 percent:

Long-term unemployed workers in a growing list of states are being abruptly cut from federal unemployment insurance, a new analysis from the National Employment Law Project shows. Due to reductions Congress enacted earlier this year, more than 400,000 workers in 27 states will have lost between 13 to 20 weeks of federal unemployment insurance under the Extended Benefits program by Saturday, May 12th. The cuts come even though long-term unemployment remains near record highs. [...]

The latest round of cuts that take effect in eight states this Saturday will affect more than 200,000 long-term unemployed workers and account for the biggest number of workers to be hit so far, as states like California, Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas are all being phased out at the same time. In California, nearly 100,000 workers are being cut from the extended benefits this week.

These cuts are occurring because the formula under which states receive federal funds for extended unemployment benefits stipulates that those funds disappear if the state’s unemployment rate stops increasing. So because California and other states have seen some improvement in their labor situations, their funds vanish. “The Extended Benefits program is being phased out because state unemployment rates have stopped climbing, but unemployment is still exceedingly high in many places,” said NELP Executive Director Christine Owens.

There are still more than three job seekers for every available opening, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and more than 30 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for a year or more. Considering those numbers, it makes no sense to cut people off from unemployment benefits, which have ensured that millions of Americans don’t slip below the poverty line. According to the Government Accountability Office, 20 percent of those cut off from unemployment benefits by early 2010 fell into poverty.



http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/0 ... ?mobile=nc


Info found while doing this search...

https://www.google.com/search?q=califor ... 80&bih=868

[tin00can]

Good. Fuck those mooches, living off of the taxpayers' dime.

[DEATH ROW JOE]

These cuts are occurring because the formula under which states receive federal funds for extended unemployment benefits stipulates that those funds disappear if the state’s unemployment rate stops increasing. So because California and other states have seen some improvement in their labor situations, their funds vanish.

So you're complaining now because the economy is improving. Since last July, 250,000 jobs were added in California and the unemployment rate fell from 12% to 11%. Extended unemployment benefits expire when the state's economy improves. The California economy is improving and their extended benefits now expire.

[brotherplanet]

"In order for the state to qualify for the program you have to have a high unemployment rate," Levy said. "Certainly California does have a high rate, but it's not 10 percent higher than what it's been over the last three years, and that is a requirement of the program."

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Un ... 07515.html


California's unemployment rate in March increased to 11%, up from 10.9% in February. Economists have said that California's unemployment rate has remained elevated in recent months because more job seekers are returning to the labor force, encouraged by improving job prospects.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/l ... 9477.story

This is not positive. It would be positive if job seekers returned to the labor force AND unemployment went down instead of up. Painting this as a positive because it didn't go up by 10% is just silly.

If cancer spread 9% instead of 10% you would say it was terrific news and then make up a graph to prove your point.

[DEATH ROW JOE]

It would be positive if job seekers returned to the labor force AND unemployment went down instead of up.

That is exactly what has happened dumb ass. Since Jan 2011, the labor force has grown by 129,854, employment has grown by 321,142, and the unemployment rate has fallen from 12.1% to 11%.

Jan 2011 labor force = 18358135
Mar 2012 labor force = 18487989

Jan 2011 employment = 16135469
Mar 2012 employment = 16456611

Painting this as a positive because it didn't go up by 10% is just silly.

I'm not painting it as positive because it did not go up 10%. I'm painting it as positive because it fell by 10% (11% is 90% of 12.1%).

Since you obviously do not understand the unemployment rate, the increase in unemployment from 10.9% to 11% the past two months is inconsequential. The unemployment rate is calculated based on a telephone survey, that's why it's called the household survey as opposed to the establishment survey (non-farm payroll number posted above). There is significant margin of error and the numbers are revised almost every month for several years.

If you bother to read the text you quote, you will see that they are looking at how the unemployment rate performs over 3 years.

it's not 10 percent higher than what it's been over the last three years

If cancer spread 9% instead of 10% you would say it was terrific news and then make up a graph to prove your point.

No, not even close.

If the cancer rate fell from 12.1% in Jan 2011 to 11% in March 2012, then you could call that improvement.

I never used the words "terrific news." I merely pointed out to you that your article said extended benefits were expiring because the job market has improved. The numbers make clear the job market has improved. You are essentially complaining about improvement in this thread.

[Danzig in the Dark]

but... but... IMAGESHACK!!!!!!!!!!