Continuing claims, which measures the number of people receiving regular state unemployment insurance benefits, fell by much larger number, dropping 916,000 to 12.6 million for the week ending September 5. But much of this drop was because the surge in unemployment insurance claims began in March, when travel, hospitality, and restaurants began to cut back because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The broadest measure of unemployment insurance rose by 98,000 for the week ending August 29, to a total of 29.8 million. This number includes the regular state unemployment benefits, the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA for gig workers and the self-employed, the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation or PEUC and the state Extended Benefits program, both which aid those who have run through the six months for regular state unemployment.

Other signs that the economy continues to slow emerged this week. On Wednesday, the government report on retail sales for August saw a gain of only six-tenths of one percent. This was just more than half of what most economists expected, and a drop from August’s increase. But this was not unexpected, given the expiration of the $600 a week in additional unemployment insurance benefits.

Trump’s executive order granting an additional $300 week has also ended after only five weeks. While many states are still making retroactive payments, they will run out soon, leaving almost 30 million people high and dry.

Another sign of weakness was that new construction on homes and apartments fell 5.1% in August, led by a big decline in apartment construction projects. This is no surprise as more and more people are being evicted, despite a moratorium issued by the Centers for Disease Control. The big problem with the CDC order is that the federal government is not providing any money for rent relief. A better approach has been proposed by Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who call for rent forgiveness for tenants hit by the recession, and government aid to landlords who commit to more protection for their tenants.

#SanJoséCA #EconomicCrisis #unemploymentInsurance

The numbers of continuing claims, which show how many people are actually collecting benefits, also rose. The number of people getting regular state unemployment insurance rose to 13.2 million for the week ending August 29, up 50,000 from the previous week. The federal PUA benefits are being paid to 14.6 million for the week ending August 22, up over a million from the week before, and marking the first time that PUA claims exceeded the regular state UI.

With more and more workers out of work for longer periods of time, the Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation or FEUC, for those who regular UI has run out, also rose by 30,000 to more than 1.4 million. Another program for these long-term workers, the Extended Benefits, saw their numbers jump 43% to more than 240,000.

The broadest measure, which includes the regular state unemployment insurance, the federal PUA, the federal PEUC, the state EB, as well as smaller programs, grew by 375,000 to 29.6 million. This represents more than 18% of the total labor force, which are those who are working or unemployed.

While the economy was slammed by the pandemic in March and April at the beginning of the recession, the worsening numbers for unemployment insurance are coming at a time when new infections and deaths for COVID-19 have been trending down recently. Along with the continued rise in numbers of long-term unemployed, the recession is beginning to worsen even without a surge in the pandemic.

The financial situation of local and state governments continues to get worse as sales and income tax revenues fall with recession. State and local governments face a total shortfall of about $500 billion through next summer. Without more aid from the federal government, education and health care services will be slashed, costing hundreds of thousands in lost jobs.

Despite the growing numbers of people who are depending on government aid and a fiscal crunch among state and local governments, the likelihood of the federal government coming up with more economic relief also dimmed in Washington, D.C.

While the Democrats in the House of Representative passed a $3.5 trillion Heroes Act back in May, the Republicans did not respond until late July. By this time parts of the March Cares Act, including the $600 a week additional unemployment benefits and the eviction and foreclosure restrictions, were expiring. When the Republican Senate put forward a much more limited $1 trillion proposal, the Democrats offered to split the difference with a $2.2 trillion compromise. But in response, the Republican Senate has passed a bill that only offers $300 billion in new money – showing that they are not serious about negotiating. The Republican Senate bill is even worse than President Trump’s Executive Order giving $300 a week in additional aid, only offering $200 a week. In this and in other ways, the Republican Senate has shown themselves with their bill to be worse than Trump on economic aid to the American people.

#SanJoséCA #unemploymentInsurance #DepartmentOfLabor #HEROESAct

San José, CA – On Thursday, June 4 the federal Department of Labor reported that 1.9 million new claims for state unemployment insurance or UI benefits were filed in the week ending May 30. This was down by 250,000 claims from the previous week, continuing the slow decline in new applications. However, this was still more than two and a half times higher than the previous pre-pandemic record of almost 700,000 claims made during the deep 1981-82 recession.

The total number of people receiving state unemployment benefits – which is delayed by a week – rose by 650,000 to 21.5 million for the week ending May 23. The total number of the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA and Pandemic Employment Assistance or PEA rose by 3 million to a total of almost 11 million in the week ending May 16. Putting together the state UI totals along with the federal PUA and PEA means that almost 30 million individuals, or 20% of the total labor force, were collecting aid for lost jobs or income as of the middle of May.

Years of underfunding and neglect at best, and sabotage at worst, has hamstrung the ability of state and federal government to get aid to those who need it. Thousands who lost their livelihoods have not been able to file for state unemployment benefits, and at least four states – Arkansas, Kansas, New Hampshire and West Virginia – all with Republican governors – have not even started to pay federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

Things are so bad that there is a growing number of errors in the reports. For example, there are at least a half a million PUA and PEA claims being paid through states that are not showing up in the federal reports, meaning that the actual total benefits being paid in mid-May was more than 30 million.

Worst of all, thousands of people are being thrown off of unemployment for refusing or even hesitating to return to work in unsafe jobs. States such as Oklahoma and Ohio are encouraging employers to report workers unwilling or unable to return to work and cut them off of unemployment benefits. This is one of the reasons that almost all states are rushing to ‘reopen’ despite a majority of Americans thinking that the pace is too fast. Businesses and their bought and paid for politicians want to use the threat of hunger and homelessness to force people back to work to try to restore profits, the pandemic be damned.

#SanJoséCA #PoorPeoplesMovements #unemploymentInsurance #DepartmentOfLabor #PandemicUnemploymentAssistance

San José, CA – New claims for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits doubled from record numbers just a week earlier. On Thursday, April 2, the Department of Labor reported that more than 6.6 million people applied for state unemployment insurance benefits for the week ending March 28. This means that almost 10 MILLION people lost their jobs and applied for UI benefits in just the last two weeks of March. This economic crisis has caused more job losses in two weeks than the entire 2007 to 2009 recession, where 8 million jobs were lost.

Like the week before, Wall Street rallied, with the broad S&P 500 Index up 2.28% and the headline Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 450 points. This is just another example of how the interests of the wealthiest 1% of Wall Street, who own half of all stocks, and the working people of America have opposing interests.

A week ago, Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury, dismissed the record unemployment insurance benefit applications as “not relevant,” because of the bipartisan pandemic disaster bill that had just been signed into law. The $1200 payments to individuals are supposed to start April 9 for those who have direct deposit for their tax returns. But it will take up to 20 weeks, or almost five months, for checks to be mailed to people who the IRS doesn’t have bank records for.

The layoffs are spreading. What began with smaller businesses that had to shut down is spreading to more and more medium and large businesses. A number of major retailers such as Macy’s, Gap and Kohls, who had already shut their stores, announced that they were furloughing most of their workers. Job losses in manufacturing and construction are picking up as sales dry up and public health restrictions expand. Even white collar and technology jobs that can be done at home are being lost as companies cut workers in the face of falling sales. Many of these layoffs won’t show up until next week’s report.

With surveys showing that 40% of households could not make the rent or mortgage if they lost their jobs, millions will not be able to pay this month, and even more next month. While a number of state and local governments have banned evictions temporarily, tenants will still owe their back rent. What began as a public health crisis with the lack of preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic is turning into an economic crisis which the United States, with its weak safety net, is also not prepared for.

#SanJoséCA #PoorPeoplesMovements #US #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #unemploymentInsurance #stockMarket #DonaldTrump #COVID19

San José, CA – On Thursday, March 26, the Labor Department reported the new claims for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits rocketed to 3.3 million for the week ending March 21. This was almost five times the previous record of almost 700,000 new claims in October of 1982, when the recession drove the unemployment rate to 10.8%. The number of new claims for UI was 15 times higher than the report just two weeks earlier.

This number certainly understated the number of lost jobs. Many states don’t allow part-time and gig workers, independent contractors, and the self-employed to file for unemployment benefits. Many workers were not able to file as state UI websites crashed and phone lines jammed. Similar numbers or even worse are expected for next week’s report as layoffs continued to mount this week and the backlog of jobless workers who were not able to file grows.

The loss of more than 3 million jobs could increase the official unemployment rate from February’s 3.5% to 5.7% in just one week. This job loss will confirm the beginning of a recession as sales tank as stores close, household income drops and industrial production falls, with auto plants and other manufacturers closing their doors.

But Wall Street ignored the human cost in terms of jobs and sickness of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the United States topping both China and Italy to terms of infections with more than 82,000. Stocks rose for the third day in a row to start a new bull market with the average prices of stocks up more than 20% from the low four days ago.

Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, spoke for the president and Wall Street, saying that the huge unemployment insurance numbers are “not relevant.” Mnuchin is a former Wall Street executive with the investment bank Goldman Sachs, whose wealth was almost half a billion dollars last year.

Mnuchin and Trump, in the daily press briefing, claim the economic bailout bill working its way through Congress would protect people from the economic costs of the pandemic. But Trump’s promises, first that COVID-19 would quickly pass, and now that the economy will recover soon, is starting to sound more and more like President Herbert Hoover’s “prosperity is just around the corner” as the economy sank deeper and deeper into the Great Depression.

#SanJoseCA #PeoplesStruggles #unemploymentInsurance

San José, CA – On Thursday, March 19, the Department of Labor reported a surge of applications for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits as the COVID-19 pandemic began to bite into the economy. For the week ending March 14, a seasonally adjusted 281,000 claims were filed, up 70,000 (or one-third) from the week before and much greater than the predicted 220,000. A National Public Radio poll also conducted last week showed that 18% of all households had already lost income from layoffs or reduced work hours.

But this is just the beginning of the tidal wave of layoffs in the works. In the first three workdays of this week, new applications for unemployment insurance benefits grew more than 25-fold in Ohio from the week before. The websites used to apply for unemployment insurance crashed in Colorado, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York and Oregon. All of this points to a massive increase in applications in next Thursday’s report on this week.

The Unemployment Insurance system had fundamental problems even before COVID-19 hit. Six states, including California, have less than six months of reserve payments – meaning that they could run out of money in a month or two with the surge of applications happening now. Here in California, U.I. is funded by a tax on businesses on the first $7000 of wages – far less than what the average worker earns. No surprise that California has the lowest reserves in the nation, with only two and half months of reserve benefits – which could be wiped out in a week or two.

While President Trump signed a bill to extend sick and family leave for up to 12 weeks, it was a watered-down version. Big business and Senate Republicans insisted on leaving out larger businesses with more than 500 workers and allowed smaller businesses with less than 50 workers to get exemptions. This leaves less than one-fourth of all workers who work for firms with between 50 and 500 workers covered.

The Trump administration and Senate Republicans are now working on a huge bail-out bill that would give billions to big corporations seeking handouts. The promised cash payments will have to go through the IRS, whose staff has been cut and who are busy with processing tax returns. The lowest-paid workers are most likely to be overlooked. The bill also puts even more limits on the extended sick and family leave passed just a few days ago.

In contrast, the government in socialist China ordered large state-owned businesses to spare no expense to fight the COVID-19. Firms were urged not to lay off workers and even hire more. State-owned construction firms rushed to build temporary hospitals in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic. State-owned utilities lowered electricity prices while state owned property management companies reduced rents to aid businesses. State-owned oil and gas, chemical and pharmaceutical companies stepped up the production of medicines and medical equipment.

#SanJoséCA #PoorPeoplesMovements #US #PeoplesStruggles #unemploymentInsurance #stockMarket #DonaldTrump #COVID19

Washington, DC – Unemployment rates ticked upwards in 30 states, according to an Aug. 18 report from the federal government’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ohio, Maryland and South Carolina had the largest job losses. Mississippi has the country’s highest unemployment rate, at 8%. Meanwhile, Congress is in recess until September.

About 3 million workers have lost long-term jobless benefits since emergency unemployment insurance was allowed to lapse in late December 2013. At the time, Democratic leadership failed to insist on including extended unemployment compensation (EUC) in the budget compromise. That gave Republicans veto power over attempts in Congress to restore the program.

Early this year the Senate voted to bring back benefits for the long-term jobless, but the House leadership refused to allow the measure to come to the floor. Many conservative politicians blame jobless workers and unemployment insurance for the persistently high unemployment rates.

Commenting on the impasse in Congress, Steff Yorek of Freedom Road Socialist Organization states, “The fact members of Congress are at home campaigning – instead of addressing the real crisis that unemployed workers are facing – is a searing indictment of the politicians who serve the 1%.”

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Capitalism #SteffYorek #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights

Washington, DC – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated in a June 6 press statement, “It is my hope that Congress can still act on extending unemployment. This vital lifeline is so critical to struggling families in Nevada and throughout the country.”

Addressing the House impasse that is holding up legislation to bring back unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless, Reid condemned the Republican leadership stating, “Speaker Boehner has refused to consider an extension of unemployment insurance to over 2.9 million Americans out of work.”

The crisis began in December 2013 when Congress failed to pass legislation to continue Extended Unemployment Compensation. Democratic leaders in Congress did not insist on including benefits for the long-term jobless in the budget compromise, which gave House Republicans the say-so over any attempt to bring back the emergency benefits.

Many observers say that President Obama is unwilling to expend political capital to see a restoration of the benefits.

Steff Yorek, a spokesperson for Freedom Road Socialist Organization, condemned congressional inaction on June 7 stating, “Unemployed workers who have lost their jobs due to no fault of their own are facing a crisis. They are losing their homes, their cars are being repossessed, utilities are cut off and families are being destroyed. The so called ‘job creators’ are failures and so is their capitalist system. Congress needs to act now and restore emergency unemployment benefits for the long term jobless.”

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Capitalism #SteffYorek #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights #HarryReid

Washington, DC – House speaker John Boehner (R-OH) still refuses to allow a vote on legislation to restore unemployment compensation to the long-term jobless. In a May 21 statement on job training, Boehner failed to address the predicament of the nearly 3 million workers who have been hit by the failure of Congress to restore Extended Unemployment Benefits.

After a protracted fight, legislation to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless passed the Senate, April 7, with a handful of Republican votes. The Senate bill would extend the benefits until June 1 and provide for retroactive unemployment compensation payments. The House is unlikely to hold a vote on the proposed measure before June 1, which means the legislation will be back to square one.

Given the outrage that exists around this issue – many unemployed workers are losing their homes, cars and the ability to help their families – most expect that legislative efforts to bring back long term jobless benefits will continue after June 1.

Republicans gained effective veto power over extended unemployment benefits when the Congressional Democratic leadership did not insist on the inclusion of Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) in the December 2013 budget compromise.

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #Capitalism #RepublicanAgenda #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights

The 14 Republican House members who participated in the May 9 Weekly Republican Address, titled “Many Bills, One Focus: Jobs,” made no mention of the bill on extended benefits for the unemployed.

Republicans gained effective veto power over extended unemployment benefits when the Congressional Democratic leadership did not insist on the inclusion of Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) in the December 2013 budget compromise.

Since extended benefits expired on Dec. 28, 2013, about 3 million workers have been cut off unemployment insurance.

In the aftermath of the 2007 economic meltdown, the worst crisis of capitalism since the 1930s, large-scale unemployment has been a huge problem in the U.S. and Europe.

In the U.S., California has an unemployment rate of 8.1%, Illinois 8.4%, Nevada is at 8.5% and Rhode Island has the highest unemployment rate, 8.7%.

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #Capitalism #RepublicanAgenda #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights #JohnBoehner

The Democratic leadership did not insist on including a benefit extension in last December’s budget compromise, giving Republicans the power to stop legislation to restore Extended Unemployment Compensation.

About 3 million workers have been denied jobless benefits since the program was allowed to expire late last December.

House Democrats are circulating a discharge petition, which if signed by a majority of House members, would force an immediate vote on the measure. To date, the discharge petition has been signed by 193 House members. The House of Representatives has 233 Republicans and 199 Democrats.

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #Capitalism #RepublicanAgenda #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights

Washington, DC – A vote is expected on legislation to restore Extended Unemployment Compensation this Monday, April 7. The bill, which calls for Congress to bring back unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, has faced repeated delays from Senate Republicans, but is expected to pass.

The impasse in the Senate was broken when a small group of Republican senators decided to back the effort to restore the benefits.

When the Democratic leadership in Congress failed to insist on the inclusion of Extended Unemployment Compensation in last December’s budget compromise, they in effect gave Republicans veto power over benefits for the unemployed.

After the passage of the jobless bill in the Senate, the legislation needs to pass in the House. Most House Republicans are hostile to measures that assist working people. Many of the Democrats have gone along with cuts to social programs.

More than 2 million workers have lost their benefits since extended unemployment insurance expired at the end of last year.

Steff Yorek, a leader of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), states, “The capitalist system is a failed system that is unable to meet people’s needs. It serves the rich and so do many of the Washington, D.C. politicians. It’s time to turn up the heat on Congress.”

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Capitalism #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights

While more Republican opposition to unemployment insurance is expected over the next few days, the bill bringing back jobless benefits will likely pass. Five Republican Senators have signed on to measure, giving it the margin it needs to move forward.

The decision to go ahead with Extended Unemployment Compensation came on the heels of the passage of a bipartisan deal to spend $1 billion on the fascists who recently took power in the Ukraine.

The bill extending jobless benefits faces a tough fight in the Republican-dominated House.

The decision by the Democratic leadership to not include Extended Unemployment Compensation in last December's budget agreement gave Republicans the power to block measures to aid the long-term unemployed.

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #Capitalism #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights

In Congress ‘fiscally-responsible’ is often a code word for cuts to social programs that serve working and low-income people. ‘Private sector job creation’ means handouts to corporations or removing environmental regulations.

Nationally, Republicans have staked out the political terrain that blames jobless workers for high unemployment rates and poverty on the poor.

More than 2 million workers have been hit by the failure to renew Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) at the end of last year.

Republicans got what amounts to veto power over legislation to extend jobless benefits when the Democratic leadership failed to insist on including extended unemployment insurance into the December 2013 budget compromise.

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #RepublicanAgenda #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights #EUC #JohnBoehner

This will be an uphill battle. The House of Representative has 232 Republicans and 199 Democrats. When the Democratic leadership in Congress failed to insist on placing Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) in the December 2013 budget accord, they effectively gave Republicans veto power over measures to extend unemployment benefits.

Republicans, who often blame high unemployment rates on the unemployed, are in general hostile to an extension of jobless benefits. For example, the prominent conservative Rand Paul states that Unemployment Insurance should be limited to 26 weeks.

A measure to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed needs to pass both the House and Senate to be signed into law.

More than 2 million workers have been hit by the cutoff of Extended Unemployment Compensation. Many are losing their homes, face repossession of their cars and are unable to make utility payments.

Many states continue to have extremely high unemployment rates. California has an 8.3% unemployment rate and in Illinois it is 8.6%. Rhode Island has the highest unemployment rate, coming in at 9.1%.

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights #Congress #BradSchneider

The vote will be on a three-month extension of Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC). The measure has the support of a few Republican senators. 60 votes are needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.

In December 2013, Democrats did not force Republicans to accept extended jobless benefits as a part of the budget deal, setting in motion the uphill fight to restore unemployment compensation for those who have been without work for more than six months.

To date, about 1.7 million workers have been affected by the cut to unemployment benefits.

The long-running economic crisis, which started at the end of 2007, impacted the major capitalist countries and changed their economic landscapes. The outcome has been high unemployment rates, a net decline in the number of good paying jobs – especially in manufacturing – and more workers in part-time employment.

In the U.S. both major political parties have been part of a consensus to cut the social safety net.

#WashingtonDC #unemploymentInsurance #Capitalism #ExtendedUnemploymentCompensation #workersRights

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.

At the end of 2013, only 41% of the unemployed were getting unemployment insurance from the states or the federal government. This was down more than a third from the 65% of unemployed who were getting unemployment benefits in 2010. With the end of the federal extended unemployment benefits, only 26% of the unemployed will be getting benefits in the new year. This is a record low percentage, dating back to 1950.

The all-time low in unemployment insurance benefits coverage of the unemployed is part of a larger pattern of cuts in government aid to those in need. Since the passage in 2011 of the ‘Budget Control Act’ the payroll tax cut has ended, food stamps have been cut, social programs are being cut under the sequestration process and now the long-term unemployed have been cut off from UI benefits. All of these tax increases and spending cuts have been a drag on the economy, with the cut in federal extended benefits estimated to cost some 200,000 jobs over the course of 2014.

The Republicans are demanding that the cost of extended unemployment benefits, about $25 billion for the next year, or less than 1% of the total federal budget, be matched by cuts in other programs. However there was no such demand when the federal government bailed out General Motors, which cost over $10 billion to the government. With the end of the bailout, General Motors is now talking about raising their managers’ salaries and paying out more to their shareholders in the form of higher dividends. This is just another example of how the government has bailed out the banks and big corporations during the financial crisis, but did little and is now doing even less for the unemployed and troubled home buyers.

#SanJoséCA #Unemployment #unemploymentInsurance

Right now there are 3.5 million Americans who are collecting benefits from the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) or Extended Benefits (EB) programs. The EUC and EB provide up to 73 weeks of benefits for the long-term unemployed after the 26 weeks of state unemployment benefits run out.

The EUC began in 2008 under President Bush and the EB was added in 2009 under President Obama, to deal with the growing problem of long-term unemployment during the recession that started in December 2007. In 2012 there are still 5.5 million people who have been out of work for more than six months. The average length of unemployment is still about ten months.

Despite the obvious need for extended unemployment benefits, Republicans in Congress have launched an unprecedented attack on the unemployment insurance programs and federal extended benefits. Republicans are proposing to ‘reform’ unemployment insurance by limiting extended benefits to 33 weeks (down from the current 73 weeks). This would end benefits for 1.5 million long term unemployed in states with the highest unemployment rates.

In addition, the Republicans want to require the unemployed to have graduated from high school or be enrolled in a GED program in order to collect benefits, which could affect the 1.5 unemployed who haven’t graduated from high school. This would target older workers who are most likely not to be high school graduates. The Republicans also want to institute drug-testing for the unemployed who apply for benefits, despite the fact that drug-testing in other programs have shown people getting federal benefits are much less likely to be using drugs than the general public. They are also proposing to freeze wages for federal workers or cut their pensions in order to pay for the cost of continuing federal extended benefits.

The Republican drive to limit unemployment insurance benefits and to harass the unemployed is because they want to blame the unemployed for being out of work by suggesting that they are uneducated or drug users. But the reality is that there are just not enough jobs, as corporations would rather sit on trillions of dollars of cash and export jobs than hire more Americans. Even though it has been two and a half years since the official end of the recession in June of 2009, there are still a half million fewer jobs than there were when the recession started. In addition there are still more than four jobless workers for every job opening — showing that there are just not enough jobs to go around.

While Republicans fought to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich for two years, they are putting up obstacles to extending unemployment insurance benefits and cutting payroll taxes that would benefit the working class. Democrats support continuing federal extended benefits, but are showing signs that they willing to cut the length of benefits and possibly accept other Republican proposals. The bottom line is that both parties are financed by the rich and powerful and working people will have to demand the extension of unemployment insurance benefits to overcome Republican opposition and to prevent a Democratic Party compromise.

#SanJoseCA #Unemployment #unemploymentInsurance

The compromise bill will renew federal extended unemployment benefits until the end of February. If the leadership of the Republicans in the House had not backed down, more than 1.5 million jobless workers would have lost their benefits in January, and another 3.5 million more unemployed would have been cut off by the end of May.

The first to lose their benefits would have been the more than a half a million unemployed collecting federal Extended Benefits (EB), who would have been be cut off immediately. Next would have been the 3 million jobless workers on the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) who would lose their benefits over the course of weeks or even months, when they will be unable to advance to the next tier of the EUC program (which has four tiers). In addition about 400,000 jobless workers each month would run out of their state unemployment insurance benefits (which only last six months) and wouldn’t be able to collected extended benefits under the federal EUC program.

In addition to extending federal Unemployment Insurance benefits, the Senate compromise will extended the Social Security payroll tax cut. If the Republicans in the House of Representative had succeeded in blocking an extension, a typical worker would see her or his taxes go up by $1000 over the next year. While the Republicans will claim that they are the party for cutting taxes, the reality is that the only tax cuts that they really care about are those for the wealthy, while they are all too willing to raise taxes mainly paid by working people.

Even though House Republicans did back down now, there will be a bigger battle over the next two months to get a longer term renewal of federal Unemployment Insurance benefits.

#SanJoseCA #Unemployment #unemploymentInsurance

While the recession that began in December of 2007 officially ended in the summer of 2009, unemployment has stayed near 10% and a record number of unemployed have been out of work for long periods of time. Regular state unemployment benefits usually last for six months, and there are almost 6 million unemployed workers that have been out of work longer than that. When these long-term unemployed use up their state unemployment benefits, they can apply for federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation that can last an additional 53 weeks. In states with high unemployment rates, the federal Extended Benefits (EB) are available for another 20 weeks. All together, unemployment insurance benefits can last up 99 weeks.

With the funding for federal xtended Unemployment Insurance benefits expiring on December 31 of 2011, about 650,000 of long-term unemployed who on the federal Extended Benefits program will be cut off immediately. About 700,000 jobless workers receiving federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) will have their benefits expire in January, and the other 2.2 million collecting EUC will lose their benefits over the next four months. In addition, about 400,000 workers will lose their state unemployment benefits each month, as there would be no federal extended benefits to fall back on. A total of more than 5.5 million unemployed would be hit by a loss of benefits in less than six months.

While the average unemployment insurance benefit is less than $300 a week, these benefits managed to keep more than 3 million people above the official poverty line last year (2010) alone. With the official poverty rate is over 15% and still rising, a cutoff of federal extended Unemployment Insurance benefits would just add to the growing number of poor people.

A cut-off of federal extended Unemployment Insurance benefits would also put the economy of greater risk of falling back into a recession. Each dollar spent on unemployment insurance benefits can create about two dollars in total spending. With unemployment still high, housing prices still falling and the economic crisis in Europe going from bad to worse, the country cannot afford to increase the risk of another brutal economic downturn.

In December of 2010, Congress renewed the Bush-era tax cuts, including all the tax cuts for the wealthy, for two years – until the end of 2012. But Congress only renewed extended unemployment insurance and the Social Security payroll tax cut – which both mainly benefit working people – for only one year. Why should millionaires and billionaires continue to get their tax cuts while more unemployed are forced to choose between keeping a roof over their head and putting food on the table?

The editors of Fight Back! are well aware that there are millions of unemployed who will still be left behind even if the extended federal unemployment insurance benefits are renewed. There are millions of people who have been out of work more than 99 weeks – the so-called ‘99ers’ – who have lost their benefits even with the federal extension. There are also millions of young people who are without work and a growing number who have graduated and never found a job and thus cannot collect unemployment insurance. More and more homemakers and retired people are now looking for work, trying to make ends meet and are also not eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.

What is really needed is a federal jobs program, like the Depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA), that put millions of people to work in the 1930s. But the need for a real jobs program should not let us sit by while Congress and the 1% that they represent cut unemployment benefits and condemn millions more to poverty.

We call upon all our readers to contact their representatives and senators and demand that they renew the federal extended unemployment benefits now.

Last but not least, while we understand that the Occupy Movement does not want to get bogged down in debates over a long list of demands, we urge the Occupy of all cities to take up a holiday campaign for renewing federal Extended Unemployment Insurance Benefits now!

#UnitedStates #Unemployment #unemploymentInsurance