Its amazes me that people still think the unemployed have been "living large" during the recession and that they are being paid by the employers too! (fully funded by them rather). Thank you for clearing up that obvious missed fact. Here are some more facts that many unemployed haters should try to digest:
Work Search Requirements
Struggling workers and families are required to search for work by federal law in order to receive federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08). The work search requirements are fairly strict and many unemployed have lost benefits for not complying with the requirements (extended benefits- EB and EUC08).
Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC08) Work Search Requirement
• Adds new requirement that individuals be able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work to be eligible for EUC08.
• Defines “actively seeking work” to mean:
o Registration with the Employment Service;
o Engaging in an active search for employment appropriate to the individual’s skills and abilities, and employment available in the labor market;
o A number of employer contacts consistent with state standards;
o Maintenance of a record of work search activities (employers contacted, method of contact, and date of contact); and
o When requested, providing the work search record to the state agency.
• Adds new requirement that the Secretary of Labor establish for each state a minimum number of claims for which work search records must be audited on a random basis each week.
http://www.ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/pdf/Factsheet_EUC&EB.pdf
My state's version of the federal law work search requirements:
Work Search Requirements for Extension Eligibility
What jobs?
There are not enough jobs to go around. This is a fairly grim report from August:
How?s the economy doing? Employment rate vs. unemployment rate tells grim tale | TheBlaze.com
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports:
…The labor-force participation rate — the share of people aged 16 and over who are either working or officially unemployed — fell in the Great Recession and then continued to decline in the sluggish recovery. It is now at levels not seen since 1981.
As a result of the combination of a high unemployment rate and a low labor-force participation rate, the share of people aged 16 and over who have a job — what is often called the employment rate (or, more technically, the employment-population ratio) — plunged in the recession to levels not seen since the mid-1980s and has remained there. While the percentage of workers in the labor force who are unemployed has fallen since late 2009, producing a decline in the official unemployment rate, this masks the cold reality that the percentage of the adult population with a job is still stuck at levels it fell to when the economy hit bottom.
SNAP Enrollment Remains High Because the Job Market Remains Weak ? Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
From the chart, we can see that employment is nearing levels reached in 2007 when employment peaked at just over 139 million jobs. Once again we need to note that the total U.S. population (not just the “civilian non-institutional population) has increased from about 305 million to about 317.1 million during that time. With about 50% of the population in the job market that would mean that about 6 million more people are looking for jobs while there are actually still a couple of million fewer jobs available than in 2007.
Current Employment Rate | UnemploymentData.com
Living Large?
So who exactly is "sitting around" and enjoying the "unemployment hammock" as so many unfairly claim? Because the reality is that the unemployed have fairly strict work search requirements, that have gotten much stricter over the past few years (a good thing) for both regular state funds and federal extended benefits. They are looking for work but not finding much if any (other than part time or temp work and that leads to more unemployment). They are not making that much money either.
Weekly Benefit Amount
The maximum weekly benefit amount in most states is no more than $450/week and you have to earn around $11,000 in one quarter to get that. If you earn more than that, then tough luck...$450 is all you can get per week for in most case no more than 26 weeks of regular state aid. That weekly benefit amount is used for EUC08 and EB as well (so best case you make 52x$450=$23,400 to live on per year...whoop dee do!)
http://www.edd.ca.gov/pdf_pub_ctr/de1101bt5.pdf
Wiki Federal Poverty: $23,050 for a family of 4.
Poverty in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Any takers?
I'd like to see just one just one unemployed hater try to survive in the San Francisco Bay area (or similar expense urban area) on $23,400 or less for one year and remain qualified through the strict weekly federal work search requirements. That is hard enough to do on your own (I know from experience). I cannot imagine how a family of 4 would get by on that....can you? Of course you cannot take me up on this bet: that's because our pathetic government representatives allowed the state EB program to expire too long ago, and just allowed federal EUC08 to slip out of existence yet again, during historic long term unemployment and lack of available jobs.
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Struggling workers and Families need your help, not your scorn
Never forget that the state/federal aid that goes into the hands of the unemployed is used to support our weak economy, not just give them a so-called free-ride. Take that aid away and local businesses feel the impact right away. UI is one of the best investments our government can make:
http://useconomy.about.com/od/usfed...its-Are-The-Best-Way-To-Boost-The-Economy.htm
http://www.politifact.com/rhode-isl...in-says-each-dollar-spent-unemployment-benef/
And the BIG BTW...There is a "glitch" in the state/federal EB program that congress fixed once during the recession and then ignored afterwards (this program is auto triggered during a recession based on comparing unemployment rates from year to year, but not designed to re-trigger if UI levels remain high for more than 3 years+). Even worse, EUC08 benefits for many claimants nationwide have been improperly determined, paid and adjudicated since August 2008 due to a US Department of Labor implementation fiasco that has been covered up by the Obama Administration prior to the 2012 Presidential Election. These mistakes were successfully challenged in a California court of law on 10/20/11 under CUIAB case A0-265448, refuting the US DOL "policy" that contradicted federal law and regulations. Instead of fixing the problem our government threatened the state of California with the end of the EUC08 program if this appeal case was used as a precedent to assist any other claimants. Now they refuse to do anything but delay, run and hide for the mess they made. That's what you should be getting mad about...the harm, waste and fraud that the Obama Administration is trying to get away with:
http://www.usmessageboard.com/law-a...t-of-labor-has-violated-federal-statutes.html
http://www.usmessageboard.com/econo...c-stimulus-fraud-and-abuses-of-authority.html
https://www.facebook.com/UnemploymentBenefitsRestorationProject
