Joblessness and Unemployment

Posted on February 7, 2014 by admin

• Senate fails to pass three-month extension of jobless aid, By Jeremy W. Peters, February 6, 2014, New York Times: “The Senate failed to move forward on a three-month extension of assistance for the long-term unemployed on Thursday, leaving it unlikely that Congress would approve the measure soon while undercutting a key aspect of President Obama’s economic recovery plan. Fifty-nine senators, including four Republicans, voted to advance the legislation, falling one vote short of the 60 needed to break a Republican filibuster effort…”
• Hardships persist for long-term unemployed, By Alana Semuels, February 6, 2014, Los Angeles Times: “The phone begins to ring at 8 a.m. with incessant calls from creditors. Kevin Meyer has stopped picking up because he’s sick of explaining the truth: that there’s no money coming in, so he can’t pay his bills. Two years ago, Meyer, 51, had a six-figure salary, a sizable 401(k) and the knowledge that he could support his wife and daughter. But he lost his job as a spokesman for a car rental company, and though he soon found another position, he was downsized again four months later. Unemployment benefits checks helped him pay for healthcare for his family as he looked for work, but like 1.3 million Americans across the country, his federal unemployment benefits ran out Dec. 28. Congress has considered extending the benefits, but on Thursday, Republicans blocked a Senate proposal to do so. Meyer, jobless since December 2012, lives in New Jersey, a state second only to Rhode Island for the highest rate of long-term unemployment — people who have been out of work for six months or longer — according to an annual average compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics…”
• States see record high long-term joblessness as benefits cut, By Jake Grovum, January 31, 2014, Stateline: “In 28 states, a third or more of the unemployed have been without a job for six months or longer, leaving them with no unemployment insurance safety net following the expiration of extended benefits in December. In New Jersey, Florida and the District of Columbia, nearly half of the unemployed have been out of work for longer than 26 weeks, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among all 50 states and D.C., the average is 33 percent…”
• Weakness continues as 113,000 jobs are added in January, By Nelson D. Schwartz, February 7, 2014, New York Times: “Employers added jobs at a slower-than-expected pace in January, the second month in a row that hiring has been disappointing and a sign that the labor market remains anemic despite indications of growth elsewhere in the economy. Payrolls increased by 113,000, the Labor Department reported Friday morning, well below the gain of 180,000 that economists expected. The unemployment rate, based on a separate survey of households that was more encouraging, actually fell by a tenth of a percentage point, to 6.6 percent…”