Millions of unemployed face years without jobs, By Peter S. Goodman, February 20, 2010, New York Times: “Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits. Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed. Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives – potentially for years to come. Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department…”
Tag: Newly poor
Need for Emergency Food Assistance in the US
- Study: 1 in 8 get help at food banks, By Wendy Koch, February 1, 2010, USA Today: “One in eight Americans – 37 million – received emergency food help last year, up 46% from 2005, the nation’s largest hunger-relief group reports today. Children are hit particularly hard, according to the report by Feeding America, a network of 203 food banks nationwide. One in five children, 14 million, received food from soup kitchens, food pantries and other agencies, up from 9 million in 2005, the year of the group’s last major survey…”
- Workers hungry, too, study finds, By Anne Krueger, February 3, 2010, San Diego Union-Tribune: “It’s not just the jobless who are going hungry. Nearly two-thirds of the families who sought assistance from food banks last year included at least one adult who was working, according to a new study of hunger in San Diego County released yesterday. That amount compared with 36 percent nationally in the study conducted by Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. More working families need help with food in San Diego County because the area has one of the highest living costs in the nation, said Gary J. McDonald, president and chief executive officer of Feeding America San Diego…”
- Study finds use of food pantries soaring in Mass., By David Abel, February 3, 2010, Boston Globe: “Nearly 1 in 10 state residents relied on a food pantry, soup kitchen, or shelter last year, a 23 percent increase over 2006, according to a new survey of food banks in Massachusetts. Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks nationwide, estimated that more than 571,000 state residents relied on food assistance last year. The state’s food banks distributed 44.7 million pounds of food last year, a 30 percent increase from 2006, reflecting a spike in demand as unemployment and poverty have surged during the recession…”
- Study: 650K Ind. residents received emergency food, By Carly Everson (AP), February 2, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “Nearly 650,000 Indiana residents — almost half of them children or seniors — received emergency food from local food banks last year as the recession lingered, according to a statewide study released Tuesday. The study, conducted by the groups Feeding Indiana’s Hungry and Feeding America, found that 37 percent of the households served have at least one employed adult, said Emily Weikert Bryant, a spokeswoman for Feeding Indiana’s Hungry. Twenty-five percent of adults in the households Feeding Indiana’s Hungry serves are working at least part-time, she said…”
- Report shows surge in visits to food pantries, By Rex W. Huppke, February 2, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “Eddie Johnson lost his state job in 2008, then lost his rental apartment and soon became one of the new regulars picking up monthly food supplies at the Lakeview Pantry. The North Broadway storefront fills up each Monday afternoon with crowds now bigger than volunteers have ever seen. This week, more than 40 people filled the waiting area, taking numbers for their turn to collect everything from bulk boxes of rice to fresh produce. A core population of people who have long lived in poverty is now being joined by Chicagoans like Johnson, recession victims driving food pantry demand to new highs…”
Food Stamp Enrollment and Income
Living on nothing but food stamps, By Jason DeParle and Robert M. Gebeloff, January 2, 2010, New York Times: “After an improbable rise from the Bronx projects to a job selling Gulf Coast homes, Isabel Bermudez lost it all to an epic housing bust – the six-figure income, the house with the pool and the investment property. Now, as she papers the county with resumes and girds herself for rejection, she is supporting two daughters on an income that inspires a double take: zero dollars in monthly cash and a few hundred dollars in food stamps. With food-stamp use at a record high and surging by the day, Ms. Bermudez belongs to an overlooked subgroup that is growing especially fast: recipients with no cash income. About six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data collected by The New York Times. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid – no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay…”