3.3 Million Would Lose Unemployment Under GOP Bill
According to an analysis released by the Department of Labor, 3.3 million Americans would lose unemployment insurance under H.R. 3630—the House Republicans’ so-called “compromise” bill that cuts coverage for jobless workers, cuts pay for public employees, cuts preventive health services, reduces premium assistance for low- and middle-income individuals buying health insurance and raises premiums for many Medicare beneficiaries.
You can find out how many people would lose benefits in your state under this terrible bill by clicking here.
Meanwhile, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released data yesterday showing claims that unemployment insurance benefits dissuade the jobless from looking for for work are untrue. Unemployed workers who receive unemployment insurance (UI) are more likely to search for jobs online, look at newspaper classified ads and to send e-mail inquiries and applications to prospective employers than those who never receive benefits. Read the rest of this entry »
Long-term Unemployed Face Lack of Jobs, New Barriers Finding Work
Why can’t the long-term unemployed—6 million of whom will lose their unemployment insurance benefits if Congress does not act before the end of year—find jobs? “Because the jobs aren’t there—not because they are not looking or are unwilling to accept pay cuts or relocate,” Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP), told a Senate hearing on long-term joblessness this afternoon.
Testifying before the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Owens urged lawmakers to act now.
Congress needs to help create good-paying jobs and reauthorize the unemployment insurance programs slated to expire at the end of the year. Otherwise, millions of workers and their families will continue to fall behind.
Job creation is not keeping up with the demand for work and during the past six months, job growth has just kept pace with population growth, But Owens said:
That is not enough to create the nearly 11 million jobs we need to get back to pre-recession levels. There are still more than four unemployed workers for every job opening.
Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said today’s jobless face new discriminatory barriers to finding work in a broken economy. Read the rest of this entry »
Join Day of Action and Prayer to Extend UI Now
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Tomorrow in a prayer vigil on Capitol Hill and at actions at dozens of congressional offices around the nation, workers, activists and people of faith will demand Congress act now to extend long-term unemployment insurance (UI) benefits that expires Dec. 31. As many as 6 million people could lose their benefits next year if Congress does not act.
At the prayer vigil that will take place at 11 a.m. (EST) at Upper Senate Park (on the corner of New Jersey and Constitution Aves., NW), participants will wear and distribute white carnations to symbolize the millions of jobless workers who are threatened by congressional inaction.
If you can’t be there in person, Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) invites you to join the prayer event online. If you are on Facebook, click here to RSVP for the online prayer vigil. In an “Open letter to the 1 Percent” yesterday, the IWJ executive board wrote:
During this time of financial crisis and economic disparity, we affirm the God-given dignity of every person. We believe God loves all 100 percent of us and wants to use us to create a more just society.
Here’s How to Make Wall Street Pay for Wrecking the Economy
Three years into the nation’s brutal recession, America’s workers continue to suffer from massive joblessness, skyrocketing foreclosures and weak buying power. But Wall Street—with corporations sitting on $2 trillion in cash—hasn’t paid for its role in causing the near-collapse of the U.S. economy.
The European Union (EU) this week moved to change that, with the EU formally adopting plans for a financial speculation tax that would raise 57 billion euros a year. The tax could generate billions in revenue to help our ailing economy, stimulate job growth and discourage the reckless, high-volume/short-term profit, computer-driven Wall Street gambling that led to our current economic crisis.
While the EU proposal still needs unanimous approval from EU states, there has been no legislative movement to do the same in this country. As economist Dean Baker notes, “the intensity with which the country’s leading deficit hawks continue to ignore financial speculation taxes (FST) is getting ever more entertaining.”
Report: Unemployment Insurance Boosts Entire U.S. Economy
A new study shows that the economic impact of unemployment insurance (UI), especially for long-term jobless workers, has a huge positive effect on the economy, not only for the jobless, but by keeping millions of other workers on the job.
With Republican lawmakers balking at maintaining UI for millions of jobless workers out of work for more than six months in an economy that has nearly five job seekers for every opening, the new research bolsters the case for maintaining the programs.
If lawmakers don’t act by Nov. 30, 2 million jobless workers will be without help by the end of the year.
The study, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor, shows the UI program had an even more positive impact on the economy this time around than in previous recessions.
Among the key findings: Read the rest of this entry »
Jobs Rise by 151,000, Unemployment Stays at 9.6 Percent
Jobs increased by 151,000 in October and the unemployment rate remained the same as last month, at 9.6 percent, according to U.S. Department of Labor data out this morning. Other positive news: the unexpectedly modest jobs loss in state and local government, although economists say job losses in this sector will likely worsen in future months because of state and local budget challenges.
The increase is a significant jump from September, when 95,000 jobs were lost, and represents the minimum number of jobs needed to be created each month to keep up with the growth in the labor force. But to lower the nation’s unemployment rate to 6 percent by 2013, the economy needs to add 350,000 jobs a month.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says:
Tuesday’s election results and today’s jobs numbers are a clarion call to the next Congress that job creation and fixing our economy must be the number one priority. With the unemployment rate stagnant at 9.6 percent, it’s no wonder people are angry, frustrated and disappointed. Despite a welcome increase of 151,000 jobs in October, nearly 15 million Americans are still unemployed. The unemployment rate has been essentially unchanged since May.
Trump: Tax China, Create Jobs in America
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Donald Trump knows a few things about making money. The first step: You need a job. But a job is something more than 17 million of America’s workers don’t have.
In a recent CNN interview, Trump says one big way this country can create jobs is by heavily taxing China’s exports, which would result in the creation of much-needed manufacturing jobs here at home.
When it comes to manufacturing, China is making all these products. They could be made in North Carolina, they could be made in Alabama, they could be made in lots of our places and right now they’re not.
Job Summit Tomorrow: What Do We Need to Create Jobs?
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Tomorrow, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other national leaders will meet with President Barack Obama at the White House jobs summit, where they’ll start a much-needed conversation about what to do for the 26 million workers who are unemployed or underemployed.
Across the country, union members and Working America members are joining the conversation by holding roundtable discussions in Ohio, New Mexico and Minnesota on the jobs crisis and the need for quick action.
Trumka will be joined by union leaders, academics, corporate heads and elected officials from across the country. They’ll work to identify what we can do to create jobs and start turning our economy around. The summit will run from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. EST.
Trumka: Jobs Crisis—Fix It Now
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Today at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other leaders joined together to call for urgent action to create jobs and rebuild the economy.
In a live webcast panel discussion, the consensus was clear: Without quick action, an entire generation could be mired in economic turmoil. The nation can, and must, put people back to work—while addressing critical needs for the future of our communities.
The scale of the jobs crisis is obvious: Since the beginning of the recession, more than 8 million jobs have been lost. The official unemployment rate is at 10.2 percent, with more than 26 million unemployed or underemployed. These figures are even more severe among African American and Latino communities. Young people are at risk of permanently stunted opportunity, and the jobs crisis is rebounding throughout the country with increased hunger and poverty, massive numbers of home foreclosures and diminished access to health care.
Trumka to Launch Jobs Initiative Tomorrow
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Tomorrow morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will announce a major new initiative to create and save jobs.
(Watch the live webcast at www.aflcio.org/createjobs starting at 9 a.m.)
Trumka will be part of a noted panel in “Spotlight on the Jobs Crisis” at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
With unemployment at its highest rate in more than 20 years, Trumka says America needs bold, quick action to put people back to work, in addition to longer term, structural fixes for our economy. The AFL-CIO initiative he announces will include calls to extend help for the unemployed, rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, provide aid to struggling states and communities, create federally funded community-based jobs and increase lending to small and medium-sized businesses to spur job creation.
