Tags : recession, recession in US, recessionomics, unemployment, US
House To Vote On Extending Jobless Benefits
The House on Tuesday votes on a bill that would extend insurance for the jobless in states with high unemployment rates. The measure has not elicited significant Republican opposition and is expected to pass.
The bill from Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) will extend benefits for 13 weeks in states where unemployment is more than 8.5 percent.
The nation’s unemployment rate rose unexpectedly from 9.4 percent in July to 9.7 percent last month. The economy shed 216,000 jobs in August, less than the revised 276,000 jobs the previous month, putting the total number of jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007 at 6.9 million.
The economic stimulus package signed in February by President Barack Obama raised unemployment benefits by $25. It also extended benefits by 20 weeks, and by 33 weeks in states with high unemployment rates.
A total of 12 million Americans have benefited from the additional $25, according to the Labor Department.
But an estimated 400,000 workers are expected to run out of unemployment insurance benefits by the end of this month, and a million workers will do so at the end of the year.
Democratic leaders had said before their August recess that they would consider extending benefits upon their return, since unemployment is expected to rise despite improvements in other economic indicators.
McDermott’s bill, H.R. 3548, will extend insurance in the District of Columbia and 27 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Chairman of the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee in the House, McDermott says the bill will not add to the federal deficit.
“First, it extends for one year a federal unemployment tax (FUTA surtax) that has been in place for over 30 years and which President Bush proposed extending in his last budget (the tax costs employers $14 per year, per employee),” according to a summary from McDermott’s office. “Second, it requires that current reporting on newly hired employees include the date work started to reduce UI overpayments (as proposed by both Bush and Obama budgets).”
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