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Unemployment CompensationFact Sheet #108-21-07
Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) is a federal assistance program designed to address the problem of long-term unemployment (longer than 26 weeks). This program was extended after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which resulted in numerous job losses. Under this program, workers who have exhausted their regular, state-provided benefits could receive an additional 13 weeks of federally funded unemployment benefits. Congress extended the program twice before allowing it to expire in 2003. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), more workers exhausted all available unemployment benefits in January than in any month on record. Every week about 90,000 workers exhaust their state benefits and are denied federal assistance. Seven hundred and sixty thousand (760,000) jobless workers have been denied federal assistance as the Bush Administration remains silent on whether to restart the program. CBPP reports that new Labor Department data for January show that about 350,000 individuals exhausted their regular unemployment benefits last month and received no further unemployment assistance. In no other month on record, with data available back to 1971, have there been so many "exhaustees". According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), this is the first time in over 50 years that long-term joblessness has reached such high rates without workers being offered any federal jobless benefits. Jobs Going to Other CountriesA major factor working against the unemployed is that jobs are becoming scarce. Over two million jobs have been lost since President Bush took office. Almost 8.5 million people who want a job can't find one. The country has lost manufacturing jobs for 42 months in a row. Even more alarming is the fact that while many of these "exhaustees" are still looking for jobs, unscrupulous U.S. companies seeking cheaper labor continue to shift jobs, including information technology and service jobs, offshore! A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concluded that the vast majority of the job losses since the beginning of the 2001 recession were the result of permanent changes in the U.S. economy and are not coming back. This means the labor market will not regain strength until new positions are created in new economic sectors. [Washington Post, 9/5/03] Almost five million people work part-time because of the weak economy. This is an increase of 44 percent since the beginning of the Bush Administration, approximately the highest level in almost 10 years. Recently, the President's Council of Economic Advisors issued a report favoring the outsourcing of American jobs overseas, claiming that this would help the economy. That is the same lame excuse used to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which resulted in millions of jobs lost to U.S. workers. Supporters of NAFTA contended that it would create jobs in the emerging industries, such as high tech, which displaced-workers could then move into after receiving training. Now even these jobs are being shipped away from American workers. Those leaving the military, who already have high tech training will also find it difficult to secure employment. Too Little Job Creation to Justify Ending the TEUCThe nation is experiencing the worst long-term unemployment period since the Great Depression. There are more than three unemployed workers for every job opening. U.S. corporations announced 117,556 layoffs in January, up 26 percent from December. The average of 61,000 new jobs created every month over the past six months falls almost two-thirds short of what is necessary to employ new entrants to the workforce. The true impact of economic downturn is masked by a rise in discouraged workers. One and a half million people are marginally attached to the labor force. About 433,000 of these workers have stopped looking for work altogether because they believe no work is available. The federal unemployment program enacted after the 1990-91 recession did not end until 2.9 million new jobs had been created. Today total jobs are still 2.4 million below the pre-recession level. The official unemployment rate of 5.6 percent is the same as in November 2001, the month this economic recovery officially began, though the overall number of jobs in the economy has dropped precipitously. According to a report by USA Today, a growing number of workers are giving up on finding a job, thus, artificially suppressing the official unemployment rate. To help remedy the problem of long-term unemployment, CWA supports the bipartisan Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002, S.1839, introduced by Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). This measure would provide for a six-month reauthorization of the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program, which expired on December 31, 2003. CWA supports a related amendment offered by Congressman George Miller (D-CA) to authorize an extension of jobless benefits through the Community Services Block Grant (H.R. 3030). This provision would re-activate the extension for the next six months. The amendment was passed by a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives in February by a vote of 227-179. CWA opposes President Bush's fiscal year 2005 budget cuts. Full funding of the existing workforce system should be a national priority. At a time of so much job loss in the country, ironically, the nation's unemployment services program is experiencing drastic budget cuts. Funding for training and employment services has been cut by approximately $1 billion since FY 2001. Bush's FY 2005 budget proposals for employment and training, employment services and career and technical education would continue to seriously weaken our nation's education and training system at the very time we should be strengthening it. For example, Bush's 2005 budget request includes severe cuts to career and technical education (CTE) programs which would devastate programs in high schools and postsecondary institutions. President Bush's budget would replace the $1.34 billion Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, which currently provides funding for career and technical education in high schools and postsecondary settings, with a $1 billion block grant program. This would amount to a 25% cut to career and technical education. This would force cash-strapped schools, training programs and community colleges to reduce or eliminate proven programs. For further information, contact:
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