As economy remains weak, working-age adults make up record share of Americans in poverty, Associated Press, September 6, 2011, Washington Post: “Working-age America is the new face of poverty. Counting adults 18-64 who were laid off in the recent recession as well as single twenty-somethings still looking for jobs, the new working-age poor represent nearly 3 out of 5 poor people – a switch from the early 1970s when children made up the main impoverished group. While much of the shift in poverty is due to demographic changes – Americans are having fewer children than before – the now-weakened economy and limited government safety net for workers are heightening the effect. Currently, the ranks of the working-age poor are at the highest level since the 1960s when the war on poverty was launched. When new census figures for 2010 are released next week, analysts expect a continued increase in the overall poverty rate due to persistently high unemployment last year. If that holds true, it will mark the fourth year in a row of increases in the U.S. poverty rate, which now stands at 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people…”
Day: September 6, 2011
Long-Term Unemployment
- Many feel repercussions of long-term unemployment, By Katherine Yung, September 5, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “Almost 2 1/2 years after losing his job as an inventory technician, all Mark Baerlin has to show for his lengthy job search are notebooks filled with information about the 343 jobs for which he applied. So far this year, the Dearborn resident has gotten five interviews. None of them panned out. In early July, Baerlin exhausted all 99 weeks of his unemployment benefits. He has been saving every penny he can, canceling doctor appointments and using as little water, lighting, air-conditioning and gasoline as possible. If the 51-year-old doesn’t find a job soon, he could lose his house. ‘I’m living on my savings, and that’s not going to last very long,’ he said. Welcome to the world of the long-term unemployed, who face a 20 percent drop in earnings over the next two decades, loss of retirement savings, isolation, increased risk for depression and even reduced life expectancy. Twenty-seven months after the official end of the recession, long-term unemployment remains at crisis levels, with 6 million Americans out of work for more than half a year, including 235,000 in Michigan…”
- Deadline looms for millions of unemployed Floridians, By Kevin Wiatrowski, September 6, 2011, Tampa Tribune: “When President Barack Obama addresses Congress this week about jobs, he’ll have Ellen Turner’s attention. The New Port Richey resident lost her job as a graphic designer in December 2008. When her unemployment benefits ran out in mid-2010, Turner joined the ranks of a club no one wants to belong to: the 99ers. Taking their name from the 99-week limit on state and federal unemployment benefits, 99ers made up about 14 percent of the 14.4 million people who were jobless at the end of July, the most recent month for which figures are available, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The recession may have officially ended last year, but for Turner and millions of others the dark economic cloud has yet to lift. They rely on unemployment checks, food stamps, Medicaid and other government programs — programs that are being cut or retooled by state and national leaders…”