Monday, May 14, 2012

Report: 236,300 unemployed people in eight states lost their unemployment this weekend

I worry about the long-term unemployed. In the state of Kentucky, unemployment is 8.6%, but it is very difficult to hire people and I am talking about jobs that pay several dollars an hour above minimum wage. There are two main groups of the long-term unemployed. One group, for all practical purposes, is unemployable. The reasons are poor work ethics, job hopping histories, lack of skills and problems with drugs, alcohol and the law. This class seems to be growing every year and includes may young adults. The other group includes people who can get jobs, but don't because they would rather collect unemployment until that perfect job comes along. Many in this category live in households with second incomes.
(The Hill)- More than 230,000 unemployed workers will lose their jobless benefits this weekend as portions of federal programs expire across several states. 
All told, 409,300 long-term unemployed Americans in 27 states will have lost upward of 20 weeks of federal unemployment benefits by this past Saturday, even as the many state jobless rates remain high, according to a new analysis by the National Employment Law Project (NELP).

The latest batch of cuts affects 236,300 unemployed people in eight states — California (11%), Texas (7%) Pennsylvania (7.5%), Florida (9%), Illinois (8.8%) North Carolina (9.7%) Colorado (7.8%) and Connecticut (7.7%) — half of which have jobless rates above the 8.1 percent national average posted in April.

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