Two Million Americans May Be Forced to Seek Work As Extended Jobless Benefits Run Out

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The Associated Press’ Tom Breen reports:
Extended unemployment benefits for nearly 2 million Americans begin to run out Wednesday, cutting off a steady stream of income and guaranteeing a dismal holiday season for people already struggling with bills they cannot pay.Unless Congress changes its mind, benefits that had been extended up to 99 weeks will end this month.
Heck of a time for that to happen. Prayers extended for anybody who will shortly be impacted by this.
 
Two Million Americans May Be Forced to Seek Work As Extended Jobless Benefits Run Out
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I was forced to seek work a long time before that ever happened…
 
The headline is silly. Jobless folks I know have been seeking employment for months. One person for years.
 
Yeah it ran out for me months ago. Think hes a little late to the party.

There was a push to extend it for the 99ers and congress held out on it until their recess and it hasnt been talked about much since.
 
Hard to know what the outcome of failure to extend would be. If, shortly thereafter, the unemployment rate goes down, it will be a jaw-dropper to both the right and the left, I think.
 
The unemployment rate reported in the media, that is (# seeking employment, but without work)/ (emplyed + seeking work) is basically meaningless. It is survey data. If someone hasn’t applied for a job in X amount of time (I think it is 2.5 months, not sure), they drop out of the denominator. So a lot of those on the 99 week benefit plan are not being counted right now.

Google Shadow Stats for a better idea of real unemployment.
 
Maybe if the Bush tax cuts are made permanent (or extended) then there will be more economic growth to provide jobs for those out of work.

Ishii
 
You know I hate how folks here seem to have an image of folks on unemployment or welfare. I’ve been on both (back in the 80s) and it isn’t fun.
I’m just recovering from surgery & if it weren’t for health insurance and temporary disability from my job I’d be grateful for PA, food stamps, Medicaid, the lot. But then everyone here would think I’m a freakin’ parasite.

As far as unemployment, I’m sure there are some who re pickier than they might be because they have benefits, especially the ones who’ve moved back in w/Mom & Dad (or never left).
For anyone with a family & home, unemployment is probably just keeping his nose above water.
 
ishii said:
Maybe if the Bush tax cuts are made permanent (or extended) then there will be more economic growth to provide jobs for those out of work.

Ishii
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Nice talking point.

Why do people continue to believe the lie that these continued tax cuts will produce jobs or economic growth? The so called “job creators” I hear so much about have had these things in place for a decade and when they were put in place it was known at the time they would be temporary. I haven’t seen too many domestic jobs created becasue of them and a 3% increase on income over $250,000 isn’t going to make them go broke. Jobs are created when demand for products or services go up, not becasue the already wealthy get to keep more money that they’re not going to spend for alonger period of time.
 
j1akey said:
Nice talking point.

Why do people continue to believe the lie that these continued tax cuts will produce jobs or economic growth? The so called “job creators” I hear so much about have had these things in place for a decade and when they were put in place it was known at the time they would be temporary. I haven’t seen too many domestic jobs created becasue of them and a 3% increase on income over $250,000 isn’t going to make them go broke. Jobs are created when demand for products or services go up, not becasue the already wealthy get to keep more money that they’re not going to spend for alonger period of time.
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I know for a fact my company would hire/pay more if it paid less in taxes.

Doesn’t matter how much cash my boss is sitting on, if demand drops he’s going to need it.
 
j1akey said:
Jobs are created when demand for products or services go up, not becasue the already wealthy get to keep more money that they’re not going to spend for alonger period of time.
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The Bush tax cuts were across the board, not just for the wealthy.

And demand for products and services will not go up as long as we have a government who intends to continue directing spending toward cronies instead of regular people.

Keynesianism assumed that ordinary people would benefit from government spending. But they don’t because only cronies are benefitting from current government spending increases like porkulus or bailouts.

Of course the ordinary people are asked to PAY for this crony spending - whether through higher taxes, higher unemployment, higher cost of living…
 
I sometimes wonder how much of this is regional and whether extension of benefits delays population shifts.

I have seen employers here hire extremely aged people for physically demanding jobs, people with criminal records and people whose likely contributions to the enterprise are very questionable. Why do they hire them? Because they don’t have better applicants. I recently talked to a fellow who moved here from southern California for work. He had been out of work for a year and more and couldn’t find anything in So. Cal. He moved here and not only found a job, but found that he could shift laterally for, e.g., better pay, better work, etc. I saw a lady on some program last night who couldn’t get a permanent job for the last two years. Couldn’t even get regular temp work. There is no doubt in my mind she could get hired here very quickly and for a lot more than she was getting on unemployment.

I understand employment is fairly good in Texas, Oklahoma and some of the northern prairie states. Doubtless there are other places. Apparently it’s not very good in Nevada, Michigan and other places.

Failure to extend benefits might not do anything good at all, and might be harmful. But if there are simply places where the work is either not coming back or is going to be a long time in coming back, one wonders whether failure to extend might be the impetus to cause people to move to where work is more plentiful. Possibly there are economic shifts going on that really can’t be fixed without people moving.
 
snowpea said:
how can one be forced to work if there are no jobs?

🤷
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There are quite a few people who have turned down jobs that didn’t pay that well b/c UI was the same or close to it. Without UI, they will finally take these jobs.

On a related note, if Congress would just keeps tax rates the same and dismantle Obamacare, hiring would surge. Companies are holding tight to cash b/c they can’t determine what is going to happen with this govt.
 
Ridgerunner said:
I sometimes wonder how much of this is regional and whether extension of benefits delays population shifts.
{snip}
I understand employment is fairly good in Texas, Oklahoma and some of the northern prairie states. Doubtless there are other places. Apparently it’s not very good in Nevada, Michigan and other places.

Failure to extend benefits might not do anything good at all, and might be harmful. But if there are simply places where the work is either not coming back or is going to be a long time in coming back, one wonders whether failure to extend might be the impetus to cause people to move to where work is more plentiful. Possibly there are economic shifts going on that really can’t be fixed without people moving.
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I have often thought the same thing. Through the ages, people have migrated due to economic circumstances. Our country was built on people seeking economic betterment. There are a lot of people living in Michigan where many jobs have left.

It seems people feel they shouldn’t have to move for a job anymore.
 
snowpea said:
how can one be forced to work if there are no jobs?

🤷
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I appreciate what you’re saying.

Funny thing is that around here, it is still hard as heck to find people to work.

I am not hiring right now, but a friend of mine down in Herndon VA is. He had a job fair to fill about 20 slots he had for a new contract a couple of weeks ago. He only had 12 people show up for that job fair. And, yes, he did advertise it appropriately.

On the Washington Post jobs site there were 169 network administrator jobs posted today alone. Tons for business development. Tons for registered nurse. Tons for marketing.

Maybe it would be appropriate to look at relocation. That’s what happened a lot during the Great Depression. Maybe it’s time to look into that again.
 
I would love to hear the sob stories of people who have been looking for work “for years.” The only people I know who were unemployed for extended periods of time either a) turned down jobs that weren’t “good enough” for them or b) stayed on unemployment for as long as possible before looking for a job.
 
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