Millions of unemployed face years without jobs, By Peter S. Goodman, February 20, 2010, New York Times: “Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits. Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed. Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives – potentially for years to come. Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department…”
Day: February 22, 2010
Economic Stimulus and State TANF Programs
$3.8B in stimulus funds for welfare jobs untouched, By Dionne Walker (AP), February 19, 2010, Washington Post: “Desperate though they are to fill gaps in their budgets, more than half the states in the country haven’t touched a $5 billion pot of federal stimulus funds meant to find work for welfare recipients. Leaders in most states have hesitated to pony up the matching funds the program requires to create jobs that might not last after the federal subsidy’s Sept. 30 sunset date. The Department of Health and Human Services has handed out $1.2 billion of the emergency cash for general welfare programs. That includes $124 million that went to 21 states and the District of Colombia to help them ease caseloads by paying employers to hire low-skilled, low-income workers. States such as California, Tennessee and Georgia – where officials have seen unemployment rates spike among recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families – are eagerly tapping the fund to subsidize the creation of thousands of jobs they say keep these workers from sinking further into poverty…”
Health Insurance Coverage – Kentucky
Kentucky’s rolls of uninsured rise sharply, survey finds, By Patrick Howington, February 21, 2010, Louisville Courier-Journal: “A third of adult Kentuckians below Medicare age – nearly 900,000 people – don’t have health insurance, a poll has found. And researchers say the recession and the resulting rise in unemployment are to blame. The survey, which the University of Cincinnati conducted in October and November for the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and a similar Cincinnati group, found a sharp increase in uninsured adults since a similar poll last year: 33 percent of Kentuckians ages 18 to 64 lacked insurance, compared with 23 percent in early 2008. During the same period, Kentucky’s jobless rate rose from just shy of 6 percent to about 11 percent. The two groups that sponsored the survey, released in December, work to improve the region’s health…”