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| Currency | US Dollar |
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Hundreds of thousands to lose unemployment benefits
Many Americans face the expiration of their standard 26 weeks.
The recession has erased 6.5 million jobs since it began in December 2007, and hundreds of thousands of people without jobs are now preparing for the next big blow: the loss of their unemployment benefits.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans will start running out of their basic unemployment benefits over the next few weeks, with more than 650,000 people losing their unemployment benefits by September. A total of 4.4 million people, or about two-thirds of the entire population of people who have filed for unemployment, are expected to see their benefits expire.
The problem: There just aren't any jobs out there. The Labor Department's report on job openings showed 2.6 million job openings on the last day of May, with a job opening rate of 1.9%. The rate is the percentage of total jobs that are open for hiring on the last business day of a given month. The higher the rate, the greater the supply of open jobs. The job opening rate peaked at about 3.4% in the middle of 2007. The May hires rate was 3%, the lowest rate since data were first tracked in December 2000.
June data will be released on August 12.
"We need to get the issue attention now, because people are running out of benefits and there's just nothing for them," Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project, told CNNMoney.com. The National Employment Law Project is an advocacy group that has calculated the number of people who will exhaust their unemployment benefits.
In most states, unemployed workers get a maximum 26 weeks of state-funded benefits. Two extension programs may also be available for an additional 53 weeks of benefits, however.
More than 20,000 Pennsylvanians will run out of unemployment benefits in coming days, which is the first big group to reach the expiration worry. State lawmakers are considering legislation to tap into federal funds so they can extend benefits for seven weeks. In May, emergency legislation allowed New York to extend unemployment insurance benefits for more than 120,000 New Yorkers, including about 56,000 people whose benefits had been set to expire at the end of the month.
The Labor Department's data on continuing claims does not track people who are still unemployed after the guaranteed 26 weeks of benefits expire. Continuing claims are the number of people who request benefits after their first week.
"We will see a decline in continuing filers," Stettner said. "People are falling out of these numbers, and the pace of more recent layoffs replacing them is not as steep."
Rough deal all around. It is no longer about people living within their means, but people no longer having the means to live!
I can only take some comfort in the fact no one can blame me, because I voted for Geezer McCain and Caribou Barbie.
This comment(?) reminds me of the days when kids played the 'wolf n' game. It went something like this:
O'mama? No, Yo'mama!
Anyway, on the serious side, here's a bit of history for anyone that might have been in a coma some time during the last decade: "... break the economy" started eight and a half+ (8 1/2+) years ago. Additionally, socialism is an "ism" that's referred to more and more frequently these days. It's used whenever some ...... have no intelligent response to an issue that should have never come into existence (started some 8 1/2+ years ago).
Socialism must NEVER be the American way. However, "love thy neighbor..." IS the basis of the American way!
You know, I've been reading these blogs and nobody seems to get it. A massive new government is being erected........quietly, while the status quo is being ripped apart and suffocated. It's all according to the Saul Alinsky playbook about how to turn your capitalistic country into a socialist utopia. Overload the current Capitalist Government system with entitlements and watch it collapse. While it is collapsing, erect a new totalitarian Government under the guise of " urgency ". The Media is totally on board with it and we are all being kept in the dark or our attention drawn elsewhere with Michael's death or John and Kate's divorce while these " politicians " secretly connive and conspire to take this Country in a direction it was never meant to go. They think that we are all too busy watching
" American Idol " to notice. All because they underestimate the intelligence of the American People. The TRUE Americans. Not the European variety. I say......................Pitchforks, torches and Guillotines on the steps of the Capitol and the White House, I'm sure those Aristocrats of pre-revolutionary France crapped their pants when they saw that crowd coming for them. You want results?....I Think were gonna have to get nasty........................I think it was Benjamin Franklin that said " People should not fear their Government. Government should fear it's People. Who's with me?
something people who should say is where they are from whether they cant find a job or if they think unemployed people are lazy. I live in Michigan and I have a Job (no its not because jesus helped me get one). I am about the only one in my group of friends that has a job right now. Many of them have been looking for months and can't even get work as a dishwasher. My work is constantly laying off and I'm afraid my number is coming.
My Parents retired years ago sold the house and travel the country in their RV. They said its amazing how other parts of the country have almost no employment problems, and people have no idea how bad its getting up here.
So if you say where you are from when you post then I can send my lazy unemployed friends down there to take your job for half of what you make. Or maybe you will see there is a problem in parts of our wonderful country and we should try to help each other.
StockScouter data provided by Gradient Analytics, Inc.
Quotes supplied by Interactive Data.
MSN Money's editorial goal is to provide a forum for personal finance and investment ideas. Our articles, columns, message board posts and other features should not be construed as investment advice, nor does their appearance imply an endorsement by Microsoft of any specific security or trading strategy. An investor's best course of action must be based on individual circumstances.
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