People should be climbing into the middle class; not falling out of it. However - as a direct result of the Great Recession, people across this country are struggling to find work after losing their jobs through no fault of their own. Just three days after Christmas, more than a million Americans lost their last lifeline – unemployment insurance - while they looked for work. In Georgia alone, more than 60,000 people have lost that lifeline. While I personally believe this is a moral issue, extending emergency unemployment insurance makes good fiscal sense as well. In fact, because the emergency unemployment insurance benefits have expired, we risk reducing economic growth by .4 percent in just the first quarter of 2014 while costing our overall economy 310,000 jobs this year.[1] This is all while some companies are including “Unemployed Need Not Apply” notes in their hiring ads, making it that much harder for laid off workers to find a new job. Tell Congress to Extend Unemployment Insurance! According to Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, “Far too many Americans are still struggling to find jobs and secure a foothold in the middle class. Long-term unemployment in particular remains a persistent challenge, stuck at a staggering high: 3.9 million Americans, representing 37.7 percent of all unemployed workers, have been unemployed for at least 27 weeks.” This is not rocket science, but in an era of stalemates, brinksmanship politics and “Gotcha” moments, real people across this country are being left behind. Where I live in Maine, folks are struggling to keep heating oil in their tank, meaning we are literally leaving people out in the cold. Far too many people have lost their job as a result of the Great Recession, and until our economy truly recovers, its imperative we keep that economy moving by ensuring families have a lifeline. Its time to get unemployed Americans out of the political crossfire by renewing emergency unemployment insurance benefits. Email Your Members of Congress to Extend Unemployment Insurance!
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 13:16:12 +0000