Half a Million Long-Term Unemployed Lose Benefits Earlier than Expected

Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Congress giveth and Congress taketh away when it comes to extending unemployment benefits for those hit hardest by the Great Recession.
 
Lawmakers in February approved another extension for states’ unemployment programs drained by the long-term joblessness in many areas. But with the extension came certain conditions that have resulted in many states losing eligibility for additional federal funds.
 
It is estimated that half a million long-term unemployed have been cut off prematurely from their checks as a result of Congress’ terms.
 
Overall, more than five million people have been out of work for longer than six months. Workers over the age of 50 have had a particularly hard time finding work, causing many to dip into retirement savings earlier than expected and to claim Social Security retirement benefits before the payouts have fully matured.
 
Republicans have sought to end the extension of unemployment insurance, claiming the assistance encourages people to not try harder to find work. Democrats counter that the weak job market is to blame for so many people being out of work for so long, and that to terminate federal assistance runs the risk of reducing consumption and further weakening the fragile economy.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 
To Learn More:
U.S. Winds Down Longer Benefits for the Unemployed (by Shaila Dewan, New York Times)

Most U.S. Jobless Don’t Receive Unemployment Benefits (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov) 

Comments

jerkyspace 12 years ago
http://www.facebook.com/investigatetheeuc08errors the president and congress really screwed the unemployed by watering down the benefits too early, so the ui numbers and rate look good before the election this fall. it is no coincidence that the numbers keep dropping and are designed to do so to make it look like a neat little resolved "problem" that wrapped up just as mr. hope and change finishes out the term. this works well because people have run out of aid and are no longer counted, as unemployed even though they are out of work, the bls does not count you as unemployed, if you are a "discouraged worker". really? put that information together with the published dol errors in euc08 implementation, that force claimants to serve out older and terminated euc accounts until full exhaustion before being "allowed" to be eligible for the most recent benefit years claim, and you can see that the feds are really doing a number on the people suffering the most from the global economic mess they created. this is why i started this page to try to expose the errors that the us government is using to harm and control the unemployed while subverting the recovery act to make sure struggling workers and families get less arra money than they are owed by law.the evidence proving this is found here,based on an appeal case i won that exposed this problem: http://www.facebook.com/investigatetheeuc08errors

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