Recently in Unemployment Category

Source: Congressional Budget Office, August 2010

From the blog post:
Looking at recorded spending to date as well as estimates of the other effects of ARRA on spending and revenues, CBO has estimated the law's impact on employment and economic output using evidence about the effects of previous similar policies on the economy and using various mathematical models that represent the workings of the economy. On that basis, CBO estimates that in the second quarter of calendar year 2010, ARRA's policies:

* Raised the level of real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) by between 1.7 percent and 4.5 percent,
* Lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points,
* Increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million, and
* Increased the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs by 2.0 million to 4.8 million compared with what those amounts would have been otherwise. (Increases in FTE jobs include shifts from part-time to full-time work or overtime and are thus generally larger than increases in the number of employed workers.)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, USDL-10-1174, August 26, 2010

From January 2007 through December 2009, 6.9 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was nearly twice as many as were displaced for the survey period covering January 2005 to December 2007. In January 2010, about half of displaced workers were reemployed, down from about two-thirds for the prior survey in January 2008. The more recent period includes the recession that began in December 2007. In contrast, the prior survey covered a period of employment growth and declining unemployment.

Since 1984, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor has sponsored surveys that collect information on workers who were displaced from their jobs. These surveys have been conducted biennially as supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of house- holds that is the primary source of information on the nation's labor force.

Displaced workers are defined as persons 20 years of age and older who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished. The period covered in this study was 2007-09, the 3 calendar years prior to the January 2010 survey date. The following analysis focuses primarily on the 6.9 million persons who had worked for their employer for 3 or more years at the time of displacement (referred to as long-tenured). An additional 8.5 million persons were displaced from jobs they had held for less than 3 years (referred to as short-tenured). Combining the short- and long-tenured groups, the number of displaced workers totaled 15.4 million from 2007-09, up from 8.3 million for the period covered by the prior survey (2005-07).

Source: Sylvia A. Allegretto, Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics, Policy Brief, August 2010

Te economy needs jobs, jobs, jobs and more jobs--this is not news to the 25 million unemployed and underemployed workers who continue to bear the hardships of the Great Recession. Workers have grown weary and families once bending are now breaking under the strain. Te severe crisis of jobs in the United States and, particularly, in California seems to be lost as austerity dominates the policy dialogue in Washington, DC. In California, another round of cuts and anti-stimulus measures are under- way and they will move the state further away from recovery. Te downturn has hit the state especially hard and given its size and importance in the U.S. economy it is hard to imagine a robust recovery without the Golden State.

The onset of what was to become the Great Recession started in December 2007. Job losses were at first mild but then fell of a cliff the latter half of 2008 coinciding with the bursting of the housing bubble and the resultant implosion of many financial institutions. Situating this labor market in a historical context provides important insights and perspective into the current situation and what we may expect. This paper documents the fallout from the Great Recession by detailing key labor market statistics--the realities are harsh and should give pause to those advocating for economic austerity. A massive jobs bill and aid to struggling states should be top priority.

Source: Nancy Folbre, New York Times Economix Blog, July 26, 2010

Most Americans, even if they have jobs themselves, care about those who can't find jobs. Recent polls report that a strong majority consider it a higher priority to help the unemployed than to reduce the federal deficit.

Most Americans also care about the well-being of the most vulnerable members of our community - individuals with disabilities, the frail elderly and children growing up in poverty. That's why we have programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Head Start. Unfortunately, many states, unable to raise the revenue they need, are cutting spending on such programs.

Maybe we could improve home-care services by providing more federal support for jobs in this sector of the economy.

At least two specific proposals along these lines, based on very different designs, have been put forward.

Source: National Employment Law Project, July 2010

From the press release:
New analysis released today by the National Employment Law Project lists every U.S. Senator and Representative who voted against extending unemployment benefits last month and the cost of that opposition to their states - both in terms of the thousands of unemployed workers who continue to be cut off benefits every week, and the millions in economic stimulus that each state is missing out on as a result of the lapsed programs....Yet another poll finds overwhelming support for extension of unemployment benefits to help the unemployed, despite deficit concerns.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010

This report presents selected annual labor force statistics for 1970-2009 for the United States and nine developed foreign countries: Canada, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Indicators cover unemployment, employment, labor force, and working-age population, with foreign-country data adjusted as closely as possible to U.S. concepts. The HMTL version of this report is available here. Note that monthly updates to seasonally adjusted monthly and quarterly unemployment rates.

Source: Economic Policy Institute, May 26, 2010

On May 26, 2010, EPI hosted the panel discussion, Long-term unemployment: Causes, consequences and solutions, where a group of economists explored the value of extending unemployment benefits for the millions of long-term unemployed.
Presentations include:
- Unemployment insurance and the long-term effects of layoffs
- Long-term unemployment: Causes, consequences and solutions
- Should long-term unemployment benefits be extended?
- Long-term unemployment

Source: John G. Kilgour, Compensation & Benefits Review, Vol. 42, No. 3, 2010
(subscription required)

From the abstract:
The federal--state employer-funded unemployment insurance system of the United States is about 75 years old. It worked fairly well in the 20th century, with occasional help from Washington during spells of high unemployment. The current recession that began in 2008 is testing the system severely. From an employment perspective, it is the worse economic contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In addition to the permanent Extended Benefit program enacted in 1970, which may be triggered on a state-by-state basis, there have been several other extensions of fully federally funded benefits. The Emergency Unemployment Compensation program of 2008 now contains four tiers and has been extended several times. It is possible that some unemployment compensation recipients may now be entitled to 99 weeks of benefits, all but the first 26 paid for by the federal general fund. This article examines the various elements of unemployment insurance with particular attention to the benefit extensions and related matters associated with the current recession. It then analyses the longer run implications of this development.

Source: National Employment Law Project, 2009

On December 7-8, 2009, leaders from 40 states came together in Washington DC to build on the successes of the Recovery Act, and to chart an agenda for immediate and long-term policy agenda to benefit jobless workers. See below for informative materials from the conference, starting with video highlights that lay out the federal agenda for job creation and unemployment benefit reforms.

Sections include:
Video:
- Thea Lee, AFL-CIO on the need for Job Creation for the Unemployed
- Maurice Emsellem, NELP on the Federal Unemployment Insurance Agenda for 2010

Moving UI Modernization in the States:
- Maurice Emsellem, NELP: Modernizing the State Unemployment Insurance Systems: The Basics of the Recovery Act's Federal Incentive Funding Program
- Handout: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Incentive Funding Allotments, by State
- Handout: Report: Federal Stimulus Funding Produces Unprecedented Wave of State Unemployment Insurance Reforms
- Handout: Number of Workers to Benefit, and Amount of Benefits to be Paid, in States without UI Modernization Reform Provisions
- Handout: Cost of Extended UI While in Training, by State
- Handout: Draft Model Unemployment Insurance Modernization (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Incentive Awards) Language
- Handout: Implementing the Model Provisions of the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act in the States

Financing & Trust Fund Solvency:
Taking on the State UI Solvency Challenge:
- Andrew Stettner, NELP: Confronting the UI Solvency Crisis
- Robert Pavosevich, US Department of Labor: Unemployment Insurance: State Trust Fund Solvency
- Wayne Vroman, The Urban Institute: Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund Solvency
- Handout: Status of State UI Trust Funds, November 2009

The Basics of Responsible State UI Financing:
- Sharon Dietrich, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia: UI Solvency: What's An Advocate To Do?
- Handout: Facts on Pennsylvania's Unemployment Compensation Financing (Sharon Dietrich, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia)
- Handout: Business's Unemployment Compensation Cut-Backs Would Be a Bad Idea for Pennsylvanians (Sharon Dietrich, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia)

UI Best Practices:
Model State Legislation Responding to the Recession:
- Monica Halas, Greater Boston Legal Services: Shared Work Programs and Other Recession Legislation
- Karen Lee, Washington State Employment Security Department: Workforce Development Legislation in Washington State
- Handout: Model Legislation for State Unemployment Insurance Programs During a Recession

From Rapid Response to Reemployment:
- Robert Bower, Massachusetts AFL-CIO: Rapid Response
- Louis Jacobson, Hudson Institute: Better Policies for Jobless Workers
- Lynn Minnick, NELP: From Rapid Response to Reemployment: Better Policies for Jobless Workers

Challenging Employer Abuses that Cheat Workers and Trust Funds:
- Deborah Chalfie, Change to Win: Change to Win: The American Dream for America's Workers
- Thomas Crowley, US Department of Labor: Employee Misclassification & Unemployment Insurance Audits
- Joe Walsh, Iowa Workforce Development: Dealing with Uncooperative TPAs
- Handout: Backgrounder: Worker Misclassification Cheats Everyone (Deborah Chalfie, Change to Win)

UI Administrative Infrastructure:
Honoring the Promises of Timely Payment of Benefits:
- George Wentworth, NELP: Honoring the Promise of Timely Payment of UI Benefits
- Handout: Honoring the Promises of Timely Payment of Benefits-Court Documents (Cynthia Rice, California Rural Legal Assistance)

Building a 21st Century Infrastructure:
- Jim Garner, Kansas Department of Labor: Meeting the Needs of UI Claimants in "The Great Recession"
- Joseph Vitale, National Association of State Workforce Agencies: Building a 21st. Century UI Infrastructure and Service Delivery System

Improving Access to State UI Benefits:
- Nancy Dunphy, New York Department of Labor: NYS Practices to Reach Low Wage Workers

Source: Jeff Thompson, Heidi Garrett-Peltier, Political Economy Research Institute, Working Paper Series, no. 219, April 13, 2010

From the abstract:
The Governors of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and several other states have recently proposed employer tax credits as measures to fight high unemployment in their states. Such policies are also being considered at the federal level. In the Working Paper, Jeff Thompson and Heidi Garrett-Peltier present evidence that such policies, in fact, do little to increase aggregate demand, and instead only modestly reduce the after-tax cost of labor in an economy with high unemployment, falling wages, and weak demand They suggest a more effective approach to creating jobs in the states: increasing spending in labor-intensive sectors and programs that are matched by federal funds, such as Medicaid. These expenditures would be particularly effective if they were financed through temporary high-income tax increases.