AFL-CIO NOW BLOG: State-by-State Unemployment Data Show Economy Still Hurting

by Seth Michaels, Oct 21, 2009

Photo credit: slushpup

The latest state-by-state jobs and unemployment numbers are out, and as the experts at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) note we have a long way to go before we can say this recession is over.



Nationally, the economy lost 5.2 percent of all jobs since December 2007. In many states, the story is even more grim: Arizona has lost 10 percent of its jobs, Michigan has lost 9.8 percent and Nevada has lost 8.5 percent.

The official unemployment rate is at a 26-year high, at 9.8 percent, with states like Michigan, California and South Carolina even more severely affected. And the official unemployment rate doesn’t take into account the workers who have been discouraged due to long-term absence from the job market; it’s estimated that counting these discouraged, some 26 million people are out of work.

This is no time to play political games with unemployment insurance, as Republican Sens. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) and Orrin Hatch (Utah) are doing. Unemployment insurance must be extended so the U.S. economy isn’t further weakened.

As Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) noted in Huffington Post, the failure to provide unemployment insurance in this devastating recession doesn’t just hurt the unemployed, it hurts families, small businesses and communities:

Without an extension…about a million of our long-term unemployed nationwide will lose benefits by the end of the year. We must not allow this to happen, especially as the holidays approach. As our economic recovery continues to take shape, it’s crucial that we not forget about those families who are hurting the most, still struggling to find work in a very difficult job market.

Extending unemployment benefits is not only the morally right thing to do, it is good economic policy in a recession. These unemployment benefits not only put money in the hands of those that need it most, but they are immediately stimulative to the economy, as families use the funds for the most critical needs.

In addition to the nation’s short-term needs, lawmakers need to move programs that create jobs and train workers so that we can begin the hard work of recovery.

source: http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/10/21/state-by-state-unemployment-data-show-economy-still-hurting/

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