Jobless hit by end to Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC)
San José, CA – For the second month in a row, the Department of Labor employment report was weak, with only 113,000 new jobs created in January. Combined with the revised 75,000 jobs created in December, the two month average was only 94,000 new jobs each month, less than half the average increase in 2013 of more than 190,000. While the recession officially ended in the summer of 2009, there are still 850,000 fewer jobs than when the recession began in December of 2007.
San José, CA – On Dec. 26, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid a visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan’s capital, Tokyo. This shrine honors Japanese war deaths and includes 14 of the most prominent Japanese convicted of war crimes during World War II, as well as more than a thousand other Japanese war criminals. The shrine also includes a museum, the Yushukan, which portrays Japan’s war of conquest during World War II as aiming to kick out European colonists and covers over some of the worst war crimes, such as the Rape of Nanjing.
Federal Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits expire as Republicans block vote
San José, CA – While people around the world are celebrating the New Year, 1.3 million long-term unemployed Americans will be facing an immediate cut-off of their Federal Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits. In addition, an estimated 1.9 million unemployed workers will lose their benefits as their six months of state Unemployment Insurance (UI) runs out in the first half of 2014. These cuts came about as Republicans in both the House and Senate opposed votes to extend the benefits.
San José, CA – The Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program, which provides federal aid to jobless workers whose state Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits have run out will expire at the end of 2013. This will cut off 1.3 million unemployed people immediately. Another 800,000 jobless workers who would have qualified for EUC won’t be able to extend their benefits in the first three months of 2014.
San José, CA – On Nov. 19, President Obama stated in an interview at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council that he was willing to go along with the piecemeal approach to immigration reform advocated by Republicans in the House of Representatives. Obama said that he wanted all the parts put forward by the Senate bill, which include legalization, more militarization of the border, expansion of temporary worker programs, expansion of workplace enforcement and shifting legal immigration from family reunification to employment and education-based visas to meet the needs of business.
Another step toward first U.S. debt crisis in history
San José, CA – Today, Oct. 15, right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives stopped the House Republican leadership from trying to pass a compromise measure to re-open the federal government and raise its debt ceiling. This marks another step towards the first U.S. debt crisis in history.
San José, CA – Four years after the Great Recession of 2007-2009 officially ended, millions of working people are being left behind by the expansion of the economy. While the stock market and corporate profits reached new highs, there are still millions of fewer jobs than before the recession began, and the official unemployment rate is closer to its recession high than the low before the recession. Things are bad.
San José, CA – On Oct. 1, millions of Americans without health insurance overloaded the opening of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or so-called Obamacare) online exchanges. Almost 3 million people tried to log on to the national www.healthcare.gov web site, while the California web site www.coveredca.com had more than 5 million hits.
San José, CA – At midnight on Oct. 1, the federal government began a partial shutdown. Later that morning, hundreds of thousands of federal workers showed up to wind up work – putting up closed signs at national parks and monuments across the country and updating web pages saying that many functions were no longer available. Then they went home for an indefinite furlough without pay.
San José, CA — On Sept. 29, the House Republicans passed a temporary spending bill for ten weeks, starting Oct. 1 if the Affordable Care Act (often called Obamacare) is delayed for a year. With the Democrat-controlled Senate already having turned down similar measures and a veto promise from President Obama, the federal government is headed for its first shut down since 1996.
