What IS the Unemployment "Deal"?

[Yo_Mama]

Does anyone here know?

Is it an extension past 99 months (EDIT SHOULD BE WEEKS)or do benefits end at 99, so that this extension helps those who have been laid for a year or a year and a half, but not those who have been laid off longer?

Because if benefits end at 99 months, I really don't think this is a good deal at all.

I'm sorry to be so stupid, but I have been looking everywhere and I can't find the answer.

[valerief]

1. It'll kick in sometime in 2016. Wait or die quickly as Grayson told us the Oligarchs want. nt

[Lint Head]

2. The Unemployment "Deal" is that the rich get richer and the

unemployed stay unemployed.

[Catherina]

3. With the billions they get to keep, the rich may employ you as a servant. n/t

[silverweb]

4. Extended for 13 months.

There was/is no "99 months" (8.25 years), but here's the deal:

3) Unemployment insurance gets extended for 13 months: Most observers -- myself included -- thought the federal boost to unemployment insurance (which allowed jobless workers in states with high levels of unemployment to collect insurance for up to 99 weeks) would lapse. At best, there'd be another two- or three-month extension. In perhaps the most important part of the deal, there's going to be a 13-month extension at a cost of $56 billion.

Source: Ezra Klein at WaPo

[Yo_Mama]

7. Sorry for typo

I've just been sitting here with dawning horror this evening as my suspicion slowly grew that we might be going to dump about 4 million people into the streets.

I never, ever thought that this could happen.

[silverweb]

10. None of us thought this would happen.

I wasn't sure if that was a typo or if you actually had read it wrong somewhere (like I often enough do when dealing with information overload). :)

[laughingliberal]

13. They didn't get help for the 99ers. I'm very worried about them. nt

[Reacher]

5. It's not a good deal at all.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101207/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tax_cuts

Officials said that under the plan, unemployment benefits would remain in effect through the end of next year for workers who have been laid off for more than 26 weeks and less than 99 weeks.

[Yo_Mama]

6. Thank you so much

That's horribly disappointing.

Most states don't have much in the way of assistance for the jobless single with no dependents. What are people supposed to do?

There aren't jobs out there for these people. There may be a few minimum wage jobs, but even if every single 99er was willing (and able) to take whatever minimum wage job there is, there would be millions left with nothing. No income.

This is unconscionable.

I hope the Dems in Congress insist on a different deal. This is why I wanted to vote Democrat - to ensure that stuff like this doesn't happen. Has anyone in DC actually READ the November employment report? Since November 2009, we have added less than 300K jobs total.

THERE AREN'T JOBS. This is my profession. I know.

I do not want to live in a country in which people are forced to beg or steal. I want to vote for a party that agrees with that ideal. It is basic.

Start a jobs program. Do reduced benefits. But don't leave these people with NOTHING.

[Reacher]

8. BTW, for those "lucky" enough to still be collecting

Obama's $25 a week supplemental has expired and isn't being renewed.

[Yo_Mama]

9. Oh, and the math is wrong too

In that article it says that the payroll tax cut would give 120 billion back, but based on last year's OASDI receipts, it's more like 105 billion.

We have to do something else. This cannot fly. You cannot give tax cuts to millionaires and leave people who want to work and will work literally on the streets. Hell, they won't even be able to afford transport to get to job interviews.

Are we crazy? This is war on the poor.

[kentuck]

11. The deal is:

the unemployed draw benefits for 13 months and the wealthy taxcuts have an equal amount of time to create jobs for these 2 million unemployed.

Sound fair?

[Yo_Mama]

14. It's way more than 2 million, and it's insane

Here's some stats, which you can get in a spreadsheet monthly from DOL:
http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/docs/persons.xls

At the end of October, we had 3.76 million people in their regular unemployment. These people will be covered over the next year if they don't find jobs.

Additionally there were about 88K federal and ex-military unemployed.

There are close to 970K workers in extended benefits. These usually provide 13 or 20 weeks of supplemental. These persons should be helped.

Extended benefits EUC08:
First tier now lasts for 20 weeks. There were over 1.7 million in this tier. These people will be covered for part of the next year. Almost all will get 27 additional weeks after they exhaust benefits. Many in Tier 1 will be close to the end of this tier by the end of 2010, so figure 500K-800K of this group will be up the creek without a paddle by late summer 2011.

Second tier is 14 weeks now, and had 1.07 million people. Many of these people will be exiting tier 2 and going to tier 3 before the end of the year. This tier will get some benefit from the program but not as much. A lot in this tier will be out of benefits by spring 2011.

Tier 3 is 13 weeks, and only covers states with at least 6% unemployment, which, sadly, is most of them. Currently there are about 870K people in this tier. Most of those in tier 2 or in tier 3 will run out of unemployment benefits by summer 2011.

Tier 4 is 6 weeks, and only persons in states with at least 8.5% unemployment are eligible. Currently there are close to 300K people in this tier.

Everyone in tier 4 is totally screwed.

Additionally there are several hundred thousand people (conservatively), who have already lost their unemployment benefits, and millions of new entrants who don't qualify at all, and all those who never qualified due to the nature of their employment.

Total "official" unemployed persons (NSA) were 14.3 million who had actively looked for work in the previous four week plus 5.8 million who were listed as not being in the workforce but wanted a job. That's 20 effing million people. That's a huge problem; at most we are generating only 40-50K extra net new jobs a month. In recent months we have lost jobs. On an SA basis, we lost over 500K jobs from September to November.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t01.htm

There is no way that many people are going to find jobs over the next year.

I would just have gone all the way, bowed to reality, and created a public works program. We have to start doing something. The unemployment rate for skilled/educated workers is zooming up. Look at this table, which covers 25 years and up by educational level:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm

The rate for college-educated persons has RISEN over the last year. On an NSA basis it moved from 4.6% to 4.8%.

The rates for some college or associate's and for high school grads have dropped slightly over the last year, but it is mostly because of lower participation rates (gone back to school). And now those folks are graduating and can't get a job.

This is now much worse than the 82 recession because of the underlying ratios.

You are going to see wages collapse with this type of competition for jobs. It's not just those on unemployment. It is also those forced into retirement who are seeking part-time jobs to cover inadequate incomes, and the new entrants.

As more and more people graduate, you may even see unemployment go back over 10% next year.

[BzaDem]

12. Without the deal, the new limit for unemployment would be 26 weeks. With the deal, it stays at 99.