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 »
Prayer Vigil Calls on Congress to Extend Unemployment Insurance Now
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Holding white carnations high above their heads to symbolize the nation’s millions of jobless workers—including the 6 million facing the loss of their unemployment insurance (UI) benefits Dec. 31—more than 2,000 union, faith and community activists committed their faith and action to demand Congress act now to extend the emergency lifeline for the jobless.
At the prayer vigil—with the Capitol dome rising in the background—the Rev. Dr. Paul Sherry, director of the Washington, D.C., office of Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ), offered the opening invocation and prayer.
We are one people, united in our goal here to bring justice and mercy to all people…and, today in your presence, Lord, we do believe we will prevail and ask that you give us the commitment to stand with them every day.
The crowd included a large contingent from the Take Back the Capitol action on the National Mall who marched up Constitution Avenue to the vigil, with banners and signs that read “This is Economic Emergency,” “We Need Jobs Now,” and “We Are the 99%.”
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.
As Unemployment Aid Sets to Expire, Jobless Worker Says: ‘All of Us Need to Stand Together’
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| Terry Maile |
Terry Maile’s supervisor called her into a conference room with all of her co-workers to hear the news: It was their last day of employment at Level 3 Communications in Pittsburgh.
That was it. The jobs were gone to India.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” said Maile, a divorced mother of one, who until that moment had spent her professional life as a telecommunications worker before being laid off first by Verizon and then by Level 3.
Even then, Maile said, she still believed in the American Dream.
You’ve got to work hard… work hard.
Maile owned her own home. Although she had been forced to liquidate her retirement after the Verizon layoff, she had begun to build it back up. Then came the Level 3 layoff. It shook her to her core.
That was my defining moment. I was filling out paperwork, and I couldn’t help it…. I was just crying and crying. I said, ‘They don’t understand…. We’re all interconnected.’
Ten years ago, back when Maile worked at Verizon, she earned $75,000 a Read the rest of this entry »
Jobless Rate Falls, But Job Creation Falls Short of What Nation Needs
The new year started with better but not great news on the jobs front. The latest figures from the U.S. Department of Labor released this morning show that unemployment dropped from 9.8 percent in November to 9.4 percent in December.
Even with the expected holiday season hires, only 103,000 net new jobs were created last month. Economists had predicted 150,000 to 175,000 new jobs for December. The number of jobs created is a drop from November, when 151,000 jobs were added.
The jobless rate has been at 9 percent or more for the past 20 months—the longest it has been this high since World War II, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economist Heidi Shierholz says the drop in the unemployment rate is somewhat misleading.
Around half of the improvement was due to 260,000 people dropping out of the labor force, leaving the labor force participation rate at 64.3 percent, a stunning new low for the recession. Incredibly, the U.S. labor force is now smaller than it was before the recession started, though it should have grown by over 4 million workers to keep up with working-age population growth over this period.
More Jobs Lost in Sept., as Corporations Hoard Cash, Refuse to Hire
Some 95,000 jobs were lost in September, fueled by a loss of government employment, which declined by 159,000 jobs, and minimal hiring in the private sector, which added 64,000 jobs. The new jobs data released by the U.S. Department of Labor today also show the nation’s September unemployment rate remained unchanged from August at 9.6 percent. Public-sector job losses include 83,000 lost at the state and local level, of which 58,000 were in education.
The 64,000 new jobs is about half of what is required to absorb new labor force entrants. To lower the unemployment rate to 6 percent by 2013, the economy needs to add 350,000 jobs a month.
The number of workers who are underemployed, which includes those who are too discouraged to look for work or are working part-time out of economic necessity, worsened to 17.1 percent from 16.7 percent in August. More than 26 million U.S. workers are without jobs or full-time work.
Tell Republican Senators: ‘Lift the Jobless Aid Blockade’
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It’s time to tell Republican senators we’ve had it with their jobless aid blockade. So far this month, their refusal to extend unemployment insurance (UI) has cost nearly 1 million jobless workers to lose the little they have to survive on.
Last week, the “Party of No” roadblocked legislation—as it has twice before this year—that would have kept alive the extended UI program for long-term jobless workers. The bill also would provide money for states facing huge budget shortfalls to keep 900,000 people on the job.
Republican lawmakers even admit partisan politics are more important than helping people who can’t find work in an economy where there are five or six jobless workers for every job opening and nearly 7 million people out of work for more than 27 months. The extended UI program expired last month and every week since, some 250,000 workers lose their benefits.
Because Democrats are backing the bill, Republicans just won’t vote for it, says Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.).
We are just in a mode where there is a lot of Republican resistance to voting for anything the Democrats are for or the White House is for….It’s an election year.
Senate Republicans Kill Jobs Bill, Block Jobless Aid
Senate Republicans last night blocked a jobs bill that would have extended unemployment insurance (UI) for long-term jobless workers. Some 250,000 unemployed workers a week are losing their unemployment benefits because they can’t find jobs.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the Republican’s action to
block unemployment benefits for the hardest-hit jobless Americans is an outrage–sadly, it’s simply the latest shame. All members, both Republicans and Democrats, must remember that come November, voters will be thinking about one thing—jobs.
Senate leaders scaled back the bill to win the 60 votes needed to end the Republican filibuster against the bill. The 56-40 vote included all Republicans present and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.)
Read the rest of this entry »
Jobless Rate Remains at 9.7 Percent, Long-Term Unemployment a Crisis
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The jobless rate remained at 9.7 percent, with 36,000 jobs lost in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today. The biggest hit came in construction, where employment fell by 64,000. Manufacturing remained steady but 18,000 jobs were lost in the information industry. Temporary help services added 48,000 jobs.
The ongoing agony for long-term (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) jobless workers continues, with 6.1 million workers in February, roughly the same level since December. Some four in 10 unemployed persons have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more.
When both unemployed and underemployed workers are counted, there still are 26.2 million people without full-time work—a 16.8 percent under-employment rate. In fact, the under-employment rate (which includes not just the officially unemployed, but also jobless workers who have given up looking for work and part-time workers who want full time jobs) worsened from 16.5 percent to 16.8 percent.
The AFL-CIO is moving an aggressive plan to push for new jobs, calling on Congress and the Obama administration to take five immediate steps to address the jobs crisis.
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.
