This Week in Poverty: Perfect Storm Threatens Long-Term Unemployed
Editorial:
From The Nation:
“It is not, of course, that these millions of workers have become lazy, unskilled, or unproductive, it is that there are not enough jobs available,” writes EPI economist Heidi Shierholz. She notes that even new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco attributes increased duration in unemployment to “the severe and persistent weakness in aggregate demand for labor.”
So it’s particularly alarming to see Congress playing games with an extension of unemployment benefits that are set to expire at the end of the month. Without an extension, more than one million Americans will be cut off in March, and more than 3.3 million by June 1.
“Instead of offering a hand up and rallying to help those who are most struggling, Republicans and perhaps some Democrats would like to drastically cut down on the maximum number of eligible weeks, and throw up roadblocks to stop many jobless people from getting any benefits at all,” says Debbie Weinstein, executive director of the Coalition on Human Needs.
Some of those roadblocks include stigmatizing drug tests and making people who lack a high school diploma or GED ineligible unless they enroll in classes—though Weinstein notes there are currently about160,000 people on waiting lists for said classes and Republicans would like to see further cuts to those programs.
For millions of Americans, this isn’t a debate over some abstract benefits extension, it’s a debate over a lifeline.
[...]
Source:
The Nation
URL:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/166175/week-poverty-perfect-storm-threatens-long-term-unemployed
Date:
February 17, 2012
Affiliate:
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