The real fiscal cliff: The 4.8 million long-term unemployed
Today's alarming financial news is the rise in first-time unemployment claims to 385,000, up 28,000 and also above expectations. It shows the labor market is weakening, not that it was anything resembling strong in the first place. It makes me want to cry, because every piece of news like this makes me even more distraught about the future of the 4.8 million long-term unemployed.
The real fiscal cliff: The 4.8 million long-term unemployed
Jane M. Von Bergen, Inquirer Staff Writer
Today's alarming financial news is the rise in first-time unemployment claims to 385,000, up 28,000 and also above expectations. The U.S. Labor Department report shows the labor market is weakening, not that it was anything resembling strong in the first place. It makes me want to cry, because every piece of news like this makes me even more distraught about the future of the 4.8 million long-term unemployed.
I've covered unemployment issues or more than a decade and the future for those who are out of work beyond the normal six months funded by state benefits is very bleak. These aren't lazy bums, but desperate people who are financially and emotionally devastated by their situation.
But, let someone else talk.
This is an excerpt from a report released Wednesday titled: Scarring Effects: Demographics of the Long-Term Unemployed and the Danger of Ignoring the Jobs Deficit. It was produced by the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group. I recommend reading the entire report, but these particular paragraphs grabbed me:
"This persistently high level of unemployment is the real cliff that threatens our economy.
`Regardless of its root cause, persistent long-term unemployment has troubling long-term consequences for workers and for the economy,' warned the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, `including lost wages, declining labor force participation, less consumption and a smaller tax base.'
Inasmuch as some long-term unemployed are older or disabled workers, they may simply stop trying to participate in the labor force, begin spending down retirement savings and make demands on strained social service programs earlier than they otherwise would.
Young workers who struggle with long-term unemployment suffer from what some call “scarring effects,” including a higher likelihood of experiencing unemployment again later and lower lifetime wages than their consistently employed peers.
The stresses of long-term unemployment have repercussions for workers, their families, and their communities long into the future in the form of increased risks of mental illness and suicide, higher mortality rates, domestic violence, and academic under-performance by their children.
It is astonishing that federal lawmakers so blithely disregard the urgent need for policy responses addressing the 4.8 million long-term unemployed. That is roughly the population of Chicago and Houston, and they have been slowly draining their savings and struggling to keep their families afloat for more than six months, some of them for much more than six months.
It is a testimony to the success of social safety net programs like unemployment insurance and supplemental nutritional assistance that this massive group remains largely invisible to the general public."
WHY DONT YOU INCLUDE IN YOUR ARTICLE THE FACT THAT THE IDIOTS IN WASHINGTON WANT TO GRANT AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO ARE HERE TAKING AWAY MILLIONS OF JOBS FROM AMERICAN CITIZENS??? NO ONE WANTS TO CONNECT THESE TWO PROBLEMS!!! THIS COUNTRY IS DOOMED!! CREEPS— wallycleaver- When the republicans tried to talk about this before the re-election of King Bam Bam, the media, including tis esteemed publication, shot them down and refused to even talk about it. This is no surprise to anyone who actually paid attention back when the published rate was 8.0%!— CCBanker
The U.S.A. should invade the U.S.A. and build roads, schools, hospitals, bridges, and infrastructure. Maybe our soldiers won't get shot in the U.S.A.- I speak from the front lines of the long-term unemployed:
You don't care about us. And most of you, if not all of you, blame us for our problems. "You don't try hard enough". "You're lazy". "Maybe if you got some training, skills, education you could get a job". "Anybody can get a job if they just try". "I could get a new job tomorrow if I had to". I've heard and read all of the platitudes from the employed.
I've been unemployed longer than Obama has been president. Most of us have. So we can't blame Obama or the democrats for our problems. At least the democrats are offering some measure of hope. Like Obamacare. I know you hate it. But for us, it's a God-send. The republicans offer nothing except tax breaks for the rich, tax breaks for the corporations and other failed trickle-down economic policies.
You have no idea what life is like for us. I lost my home, my furniture, my bank accounts, my savings, my credit cards and my once pristine credit rating. All gone. Never to return.
You have no idea what it's like to have your will to live slowly drip away, like a leaky faucet. Day after day, month after month, year after year. And all I ever hear is that it's my fault. I'm lazy and I don't try. I'm unemployed because I want to be.
I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. I hope that one of you can find some compassion and humanity within you to offer some help.
— TexColorado - Tex, sorry for your troubles! But the answer is not class warfare. The people with money have smart people who can minimize what they have to pay. The people in the middle get squezzed! Look at the way Nuttter is handling the problem. The City has over assessed the property for years and now with the School system borrowing to make payroll Nutter has given raises to his expanded staff who are "studying the problem"
Might the come to the conclusion that there needs to be fewer City workers HMMMM Maybe another golden egg from the golden goose!
Well they killed the goose who lays the golden eggs by over taxing the businesses the workers and property and still doesn't have enough. 30% of the City lives in poverty. It will soon be the 47% they were making fun of. these are the people who the Mayor and his party have convinced, would die if it wasn't for them (DEMs) That's right Don't provide a good education so they can pull themselves out of poverty, keep them addicted to Government
Boy I really wish it were different— wishitweredifferent
