rssReality for the 99ers
- 23 Comments
Annie Lowrey, our former colleague at the Washington Independent, is now writing for Slate — and is still doing the brilliant job she did for our network of telling the story of the 99ers, those who have been unemployed so long that they have exhausted their unemployment benefits.
The average length of a spell of unemployment now sits at 30 weeks, after hitting a high of 35 weeks in July. About 6.3 million people, 42 percent of all unemployed Americans, have been out of work for more than six months. And more than 1 million have exhausted their unemployment benefits. They’re called 99ers. (The term, coined this year, refers to the maximum weeks of benefits in the states with the highest unemployment rates.) There are about 1.6 million of them, according to the Department of Labor. And they raise the question: What happens when unemployment insurance ends? …
In some states, there are special programs to help keep the 99ers afloat. But for the most part, they are on their own. Government assistance becomes thinner, more brief, and more patchwork—food stamps, assistance with heating costs, welfare for parents with children, temporary aid. For many people receiving unemployment insurance, it is the only thing keeping them above the poverty line. The Economic Policy Institute calculates that unemployment insurance kept 3.3 million people out of poverty in 2009.
Lowrey also notes studies that show that long-term unemployment worsens a person’s health in many ways and reduces the chances that they will ultimately get the job. And for those who say that people should just take any job they can find, one personal story she tells answers that argument:
“Literally, from October of 2008 until the fall of 2009, I got no bites at all,” Sevier explains. “I started off applying for good jobs, but then just started applying for anything—part time, temporary. I applied for jobs in my field, jobs that were reaches, all the way down to jobs I never in my life thought I would have to work.”
At first, Sevier fell victim to her experience: She was overqualified for the jobs she was applying for. “I started applying for minimum-wage jobs, but they said they wouldn’t hire me, because when the economy gets better, I’d leave them.”
Sevier’s experience echoes that of untold numbers of others.
23 Comments
Comment posted January 10, 2011 @ 1:31 am
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so, Excellent post!
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Comment posted January 12, 2011 @ 3:12 pm
The BLS needs to stop playing games with the unemployment numbers and start telling the American citizens that the real unemployment rate is like 19 percent. When you go to the BLS site they will show calculations for six different unemployment figure. We need to be told the truth and need real solutions to alievating this jobless phenomenon. Perhaps we could take the over fifty three out of the equation and pay the over fifty three 3/4 of their benefit. Folks over fifty will not be employed in the same manner at the same rate because of age and insurability issues. For folks nearing 62 years old there will be a run on retirement benefits because there is nothing else availiable fo them. I really hate seeing over fifty fives in Wendy’s uniforms and shuffling down the Wal Mart aisle. Perhaps we could do job sharing making a work day 12 hours at 6 hours per shift. Another beef is the fact that there are so many folks looking for jobs, 5 to 1, that employers use credit agencies to qualify their applicants. That simply is not fair and should be illegal. This insures folks with bad credit ratings, foreclosures, and folks who just haven’t worked for a while get immediately rejected.
Comment posted January 13, 2011 @ 2:43 am
I look at the internet everyday,thinking that there is some new news about a tier 5 unemployment extension but there is no new news. I have looked into government housing and things seem kind of hopeless. I guess that this is it. I am looking to living on the streets. Will my two little girls get taken away from me,because we don’t have adequate shelter? I guess that no one cares for us.
Comment posted January 13, 2011 @ 10:38 pm
I feel like I am drowning in a sea of rejection. Everywhere I go turndowns for jobs I know I qualify for but I am competing with those who have Masters Degree who need jobs too. I have not been able to work in over 2 years due to no jobs, am over 50, college educated, and over qualified for even the least of jobs. I am so discouraged as more doors close than open. I have truly run out of ideas from temporary work who says they have nothing, to taking waitressing jobs that say I am to old and over qualified. Like all who blog here I need help. I am on Food Stamps so I can eat but feel so degraded for having to use them. Go to the self help isle so no one knows. Never thought in a million years this would be me. Only comfort is I am ot alone.
Comment posted January 13, 2011 @ 10:38 pm
I feel like I am drowning in a sea of rejection. Everywhere I go turndowns for jobs I know I qualify for but I am competing with those who have Masters Degree who need jobs too. I have not been able to work in over 2 years due to no jobs, am over 50, college educated, and over qualified for even the least of jobs. I am so discouraged as more doors close than open. I have truly run out of ideas from temporary work who says they have nothing, to taking waitressing jobs that say I am to old and over qualified. Like all who blog here I need help. I am on Food Stamps so I can eat but feel so degraded for having to use them. Go to the self help isle so no one knows. Never thought in a million years this would be me. Only comfort is I am ot alone.
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Reality for the 99ers | The Washington Independent…
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