Jobpocalypse now (5 million Americans are ‘long term’ unemployed. Gov’t puts off the problem)
This week, the Senate is expected to extend jobless benefits to more than 5 million Americans through the end of the year. It is the sixth time in nearly two years that they’ve expanded or extended unemployment benefits — putting off, again, a day of reckoning our political leaders seem unwilling to face.
With the national unemployment rate at 9.9% — and 9.8% here in New York City — officials are afraid of what will happen to our cities, our welfare rolls and our struggling economy if these long-term unemployed are no longer given government assistance.
But we pay for this feint in other ways. The government shelled out $140 billion in unemployment benefits last year to an estimated 21 million people. That price tag is likely to increase this year.
This is no ordinary jobs crisis. Compared to other eras, our long-term unemployment numbers are staggering.
Back in the grimmest days of the 1980s recession, the share of those out of work for six months or more never rose above 26%. Today it stands at nearly half the roughly 10 million Americans seeking jobless benefits. In New York City, more than 145,000 are longt-term unemployed.
And economists say this extend-and-pretend policy may be exacerbating the employment problem. Much like housing programs that have kept people in homes they couldn’t afford — and kept payments flowing to banks — when renting might have been a sounder financial choice, the current long-term handouts don’t address the larger economic issues. They don’t give people enough money to increase consumer spending, and do nothing to put people back to work in high-paying jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com
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