- Jobless fear benefits will end shortly, By Todd Spangler, February 23, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “Congress has less than a week left to extend unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of Michiganders. Otherwise, programs providing extra weeks of unemployment checks and paying two-thirds of the cost of health care insurance for some unemployed workers are set to expire. Michigan’s 14.6% unemployment rate led the nation in December…”
- More than 20,000 Floridians each week stand to lose unemployment benefits unless Senate acts, By William E. Gibson and Marcia Heroux Pounds, February 22, 2010, South Florida Sun Sentinel: “More than 20,000 Floridians each week will see their unemployment benefits run dry starting in March unless Congress acts to extend their aid. In response to cries for help from South Florida and around the nation, the Senate this week plans to vote on a jobs bill that would give a tax break to employers who hire those who have been out of work for at least 60 days. Senate leaders also hope to extend unemployment benefits through a separate bill, similar to one already passed by the House. But the timing and prospects for passage remain uncertain. For many of the jobless in Florida, where the unemployment rate has climbed to nearly 12 percent, delays and uncertainties in Congress have jeopardized a lifeline of aid and added to a sense of desperation…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty