Official Unemployment Numbers Grim

by Dollars and Sense

The latest official unemployment numbers from the Labor Department show continuing deterioration in the job market, setting a record for the ninth straight week.

Seasonally adjusted first time claims for unemployment insurance rose by 8,000 to 652,000, compared to 367,000 a year ago.

The total number of people claiming benefits for more than a week increased by 122,000 to 5.56 million, the highest total since record-keeping began in 1967. This number a year ago was 2.8 million. Adding in the people that are receiving extended unemployment benefits under a special program approved by Congress brings the total to 7.03 million.

The official unemployment rate is now at 8.1%, the highest in 25 years.

Long-term jobless claims have jumped by over 100,000 four times in the past five weeks, indicating that companies continue to shed workers at a rapid rate.

Again, these are the official numbers. As grim as they are, a more accurate assessment would give us an unemployment rate of 14.8% for February. This is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' "U6" category that includes "Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers,* plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers."

*Marginally attached workers are "people who are neither working nor currently looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work at some time in the recent past," according to Steve Haugen, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

One out of every eight workers.

Labels: unemployment, unemployment benefits, unemployment insurance

 

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3/26/2009 01:14:00 PM 0 comments

 

Companies Fighting Unemployment Claims

by Dollars and Sense

From the Washington Post:

Out of Work and Challenged on Benefits, Too
In Record Numbers, Employers Move to Block Unemployment Payouts

It's hard enough to lose a job. But for a growing proportion of U.S. workers, the troubles really set in when they apply for unemployment benefits.
More than a quarter of people applying for such claims have their rights to the benefit challenged as employers increasingly act to block payouts to former workers.

The proportion of claims disputed by former employers and state agencies has reached record levels in recent years, according to the Labor Department numbers tallied by the Urban Institute.

Under state and federal laws, employees who are fired for misbehavior or quit voluntarily are ineligible for unemployment compensation. When jobless claims are blocked, employers save money because their unemployment insurance rates are based on the amount of the benefits their workers collect.

As unemployment rolls swell in the recession, many workers seem surprised to find their benefits challenged, their former bosses providing testimony against them. On one recent morning in what amounts to one of Maryland's unemployment courts, employees and employers squared off at conference tables to rehash reports of bad customer service, anger management and absenteeism.
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"I couldn't believe it," said Kenneth M. Brown, who lost his job as a hotel electrician in October.

He began collecting benefits of $380 a week but then discovered that his former employer, the owners of the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, were appealing to block his unemployment benefits. The hotel alleged that he had been fired for being deceptive with a supervisor.

"A big corporation like that. . . . It was hard enough to be terminated," he said. "But for them to try to take away the unemployment benefits -- I just thought that was heartless."

After a Post reporter turned up at the hearing, the hotel's representative withdrew the appeal and declined to comment. A hotel spokesperson later said the company does not comment on legal matters. Brown will continue to collect benefits, which he, his wife and three young children rely on to make monthly mortgage payments on their Upper Marlboro home.

Rest of the story here.

Labels: Corporate Fraud, unemployment, unemployment benefits, unemployment insurance

 

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2/12/2009 01:55:00 PM 0 comments

 

Victory on unemployment insurance!

by Dollars and Sense

This just in from our friends at the Economic Policy Institute:

After months of campaigning by EPI and allied groups, Congress finally enacted a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The veto-proof June 27 vote is expected to help more than 3 million unemployed workers who otherwise would have exhausted their benefits over the next nine months, and to provide a needed boost to hard-hit local economies. The vote also signals an understanding by members of Congress that the current economic downturn is serious and requires ground-level intervention.

EPI started agitating for the extension in December, when talk of a recession was just emerging. Since then, the Institute has been at the forefront of the campaign, with staff members providing testimony, giving media interviews, writing op-eds and blogs, and conducting research showing that rates of long-term unemployment were already high enough to warrant action. Benefits run out after 26 weeks in most states.

In early June, two weeks before the final vote, EPI urged its email subscribers to contact members of Congress. As EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey wrote in the alert, it was time to stop blaming the jobless for their plight. "There are now only 3.7 million job vacancies but 8.5 million unemployed looking for work," Eisenbrey noted. "The fault is not with the jobless; the problem is a failing economy and the government's failure to turn it around."

Labels: Economic Policy Institute, unemployment, unemployment benefits, unemployment insurance

 

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7/03/2008 02:17:00 PM 0 comments

 

Long-term unemployment bad enough to warrant action

by Dollars and Sense

The latest Economic Snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute.

The White House has demanded that legislators not extend unemployment benefits as part of the upcoming economic stimulus package, despite the fact that the latest jobs report from the Department of Labor shows that long-term unemployment is already a problem. For a clear understanding of the how the present situations compares to the past and what can reasonably be expected by the end of the year, read this special Economic Snapshot.

Labels: Economic Policy Institute, economic stimulus, unemployment, unemployment insurance

 

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2/04/2008 04:16:00 PM 1 comments