- No unemployment extension: Benefits not in sight for the long-term jobless, By Michael A. Fletcher, July 13, 2010, Washington Post: “Even before his unemployment checks ended, Dwight Michael Frazee’s days were filled with the pursuit of any idea that could earn him a buck. But few are working out, and now his nights are filled with dread. In the coming weeks, the Senate is expected to resume its debate about whether to extend the emergency jobless benefits that were passed in response to the steep increase in unemployment caused by the recession. But people like Frazee, who have suffered the longest in the downturn, will not be part of that conversation. They are among the 1.4 million workers who have been unemployed for at least 99 weeks, according to the Labor Department, reaching the limit for the insurance. Their numbers have grown sixfold in the past three years. The 99ers are glaring examples of the nation’s most serious bout of long-term joblessness since the Great Depression. Nearly 46 percent of the country’s 14.6 million unemployed people have been out of work for more than six months, and forecasters project that the situation will not improve anytime soon. Currently, the Labor Department says there are nearly five unemployed people for every job opening…”
- When the benefits run out – and still no job, By Hibah Yousuf, July 13, 2010, CNNMoney.com: “Two years on the unemployment line is devastating. You deplete your savings. You borrow from your family. You feel that your life is slipping out of your control. And then you spend your last unemployment check. As the ranks of the long-term unemployed grow, the politicians in Washington are fighting over whether to extend deadlines so more people can get the maximum of 99 weeks of benefits. But 99 weeks is the cap. For Americans surviving on jobless benefits, that’s the end of the road. And there’s no movement in Washington to come to their aid. In fact, by the end of the year, more than 1 million people will have exhausted their 99 weeks and still be without work, according to Andrew Stettner, deputy director at the National Employment Law Project…”
Day: July 13, 2010
State Children’s Health Insurance Program – Montana
Kids’ health care sign-ups move slowly, By Mike Dennison, July 12, 2010, Billings Gazette: “Enrollment for Montana’s expanded children’s health insurance plan continues to inch upward but is still far short of the 30,000 additional kids that supporters hoped for by year’s end, the latest numbers show. Healthy Montana Kids, created by a voter-passed initiative in 2008, has added about 6,600 children to government-funded health insurance plans during the first seven months of its existence. The program offers free health insurance for children in families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level, or $45,800 for a family of three. Anna Whiting Sorrell, the state’s top public health official, said late last week that she thinks the goal of adding 30,000 kids is still reachable and that her agency is mounting ‘some major additional outreach’ to sign up more children…”
Multidimensional Poverty Index
- New poverty index finds Indian states worse than Africa, July 13, 2010, Hindustan Times: “More people are mired in poverty in eight Indian states than in the 26 poorest African countries, according to a new UN-backed measure of poverty. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) looks beyond income at a wider range of household-level deprivation, including services, which could then be used to help target development resources. Its findings throw up stark istics compared to regular poverty measures. The study found that half of the world’s MPI poor people live in South Asia, and just over a quarter in Africa. There are 421 million MPI poor people in eight Indian states alone — Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal — and 410 million in the 26 poorest African countries combined. The researchers said that the extent of poverty in India had often been overlooked, by figures comparing percentages of poor people in countries as a whole rather than sheer numbers…”
- ‘Acute poverty in eight Indian states’, July 12, 2010, The Hindu: “Acute poverty prevails in eight Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, together accounting for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African nations combined, a new ‘multidimensional’ measure of global poverty has said. The new measure, called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), was developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative with UNDP support. It will be featured in the forthcoming 20th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report. An analysis by MPI creators reveals that there are more ‘MPI poor’ people in eight Indian states (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million). The new poverty measure gives a multidimensional picture of people living in poverty, and is expected to help target development resources more effectively, its creators said…”