The midterm hangover having finally worn off, the 111th Congress returns today to kick off the lame-duck session, its last hurrah before its successor takes over. And the 112th Congress will look radically different, with Republicans in control of the House and the Democratic majority in the Senate significantly reduced. More…
Over the past year, Democrats in Congress have fought three times to reauthorize federally extended unemployment benefits, which provide up to 99 weeks of unemployment insurance to millions of jobless workers. Each time, Republicans have put up resistance, arguing that Democrats need to pay for the benefits by cutting spending More…
One interesting detail in this morning’s jobs report: The number of workers out of a job for more than six months declined by about 600,000. Moreover, the long-term unemployed made a smaller percentage of the total pool of unemployed workers. The Wall Street Journal reports that this is More…
Initial claims for unemployment insurance climbed to a nine-month high last week, the Department of Labor said today. Economists had expected claims to drop from 488,000 the prior week to 476,000. Instead, they reached the highest level since November: 500,000.
This morning, the Department of Labor reported that weekly initial jobless claims climbed to the highest level in five months, up 2,000 to 484,000, with last week’s number revised up to 482,000. That was nearly 20,000 higher than economists expected. The four-week average, which smooths out the jumpy More…
Today, returned from the six-week August recess to vote on the state aid bill, House Democrats put forward legislation to create a fifth tier of unemployment benefits. Last week, Senate Democrats put forward similar legislation. Reps. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) cosponsored the legislation creating a fifth More…
If you cannot sell your house, you cannot move to a city or town with more jobs. It is an obvious point, but an important one for explaining the sustained, high rate of unemployment. Michael Fletcher explains today in The Washington Post:
Over at The National Review, Josh Barro has a good blog post on extending the unemployment insurance system during sustained periods of high joblessness.
I am inclined to favor further extension of UI benefits while the job market remains so weak.
This morning, the Department of Labor reported that weekly initial unemployment insurance claims declined to 457,000, from 468,000 last week.
President Obama has just signed the bill extending unemployment benefits into law. Now, the 300,000 jobless workers per week exhausting their 26 weeks of state unemployment insurance benefits will be allowed to move onto federally funded benefits. Workers who have not had access to the federal extension since benefits lapsed More…
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