State debt for jobless benefits looming, By Catherine Candisky, December 19, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “Although the battle over extending unemployment benefits has been solved in Washington, Ohio still has no way to repay the $2.3 billion borrowed from a federal loan fund to continue the jobless benefits through the recession. Without a reprieve from Congress, that bill comes due next year, at the same time state leaders will be grappling to close a projected $8 billion shortfall in the two-year state budget that begins in July. Given the budget crisis in Ohio and other states, many are hoping the due date for repayments will be extended again or the loan wiped out altogether…”
Month: December 2010
American Community Survey
- Census Bureau data: Richest counties get richer, poorest get poorer, By Susanna Kim, December 19, 2010, ABC News: “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, at least judging by the most extreme neighborhoods for median household income in the latest Census Bureau data. The census’ American Community Survey, released last week, provides detailed neighborhood data, including languages spoken in a home, commute time and income levels. The poorest county, Owsley County, Ky., had the lowest median household income outside of Puerto Rico. Its median income decreased to $18,869 from $20,346 in 2000. Of all the county or county equivalents, Falls Church, Va. had the highest median income, at $113,313, an increase from $96,449 in 2000…”
- Poverty up by 10% in most Wisconsin counties, By Ben Poston, December 19, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “In a sign that a waning economic tide lowers all boats, the majority of Wisconsin counties saw their poverty rates increase by more than 10% since 2000, a new report from the University of Wisconsin Extension finds. And newly released figures from the Census Bureau show there are now 10 counties with poverty rates higher than 15%, including Milwaukee County, where 18% of residents are impoverished. In the last decennial census, only two – Menominee and Milwaukee counties – had rates that high. Meanwhile, Milwaukee County’s suburbs reported the lowest poverty rates in the state. Waukesha and Ozaukee counties had poverty rates of 4.1%, followed by Washington County at 5.3%. Those counties also had the lowest rates in 2000…”
- Poverty deepens its hold on some metro-east communities, By Kevin Bersett, December 17, 2010, Belleville News-Democrat: “Numbers don’t usually tell the whole story. And sometimes they contradict what people on the street see every day. That was the case with those asked to respond to data about the percentage of families living in poverty released Tuesday as part of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey five-year estimate. This survey was based on data gathered from questionnaires sent to about 3 million households nationwide every year between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2009. Some metro-east communities saw dramatic changes in their poverty levels compared with data compiled for the 2000 census count…”
- Survey finds Southern Nevada increasingly educated and diverse, By Jackie Valley, December 17, 2010, Las Vegas Sun: “A new survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau paints Southern Nevada as a more educated and diverse populace – at least according to community data gathered from 2005 through 2009. The five-year American Community Survey released Tuesday shows that more Clark County residents possess higher education degrees compared to 10 years ago. According to the survey, 21.3 percent of county residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 17.3 percent in 2000. The ongoing survey, which focuses on socioeconomic information in communities and is separate from the 2010 Census, took the place of the long-form Census questionnaire so Census workers can focus on calculating the size and location of the country’s population. This year marks the first release of the five-year survey, collected over 60 months and billed as the most reliable of the American Community Surveys…”
Extension of Jobless Benefits
- Benefits: Jobless relieved life raft still afloat, By Meghan Barr (AP), December 19, 2010, Washington Post: “Kimberly Smith holds up the piece of paper that is the only thing keeping her from bankruptcy: an application for extended unemployment benefits. She’s not happy that she needs it. And she’s upset that it was nearly taken away. ‘I do deserve it,’ the 49-year-old says. ‘I’ve done everything I could to try and get a job. I tried to get back into the retail industry. I made the effort to, at my age, go back to college.’ President Barack Obama extended unemployment benefits for Smith and millions of other Americans when he signed tax-cut legislation Friday. It helps people who have been out of work more than 26 weeks but less than 99 weeks, though the benefits vary greatly from state to state. They could be just about anybody. People with college degrees and people with no higher education. People who have resorted to living out of their cars. People who have cashed out their retirement savings. People who once held six-figure jobs and people like Smith, who was laid off from her job as a department manager at a jeweler’s a year and a half ago. What unites them is the bitterness in their voices as they talk about how badly they need unemployment benefits – to clothe their children, to pay for heat, to save their homes from foreclosure…”
- Jobless benefits are extended – but hold the applause, By Tami Luhby, December 20, 2010, CNNMoney.com: “Millions of jobless Americans are no doubt cheering the tax cut deal that President Obama signed into law Friday. The legislation provides for 13 more months to apply for extended jobless benefits, but not everyone who’s unemployed will be eligible for these extended benefits. In fact, residents in at least five states won’t have access to the same level of unemployment benefits as their peers nationwide. That’s because the unemployment rate in those states is improving, so, according to federal law, the jobless there can’t receive checks for as long as those in harder-hit states…”