[Livingwage] Fwd: Benefit Cutoff Looms for 1 Million

[Belden Fields]

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>Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2002 21:41:48 -0500
>Subject: Benefit Cutoff Looms for 1 Million
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>Benefit Cutoff Looms for 1 Million Laid-Off Workers
>
>By Leigh Strope
>
>November 24, 2002;the Associated Press
>
>http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1124-01.htm
>
>WASHINGTON - Jo-Anne Hurlston cannot find a job after nearly six
>months of searching, even with her master's degree and experience
>in education, human resources, and the hospitality industry.
>
>She's one of nearly 1 million unemployed workers across the country
>who will start losing jobless benefits three days after Christmas
>because Congress failed to grant an extension before leaving for
>the year.
>
>''All the money that's being spent on homeland security and we're
>left stranded,'' said Hurlston, 47, a single mother with a 12-year-
>old daughter. ''If they want more money for homeland security, we
>have to be able to work to pay taxes.''
>
>Congress passed a 13-week extension in federal benefits in March,
>on top of the maximum 26 weeks that laid-off workers usually can
>receive through states. But the extension benefits start expiring
>Dec. 28.
>
>The Senate and House passed separate legislation last week
>providing for another extension. But each side refused to accept
>the other's plan.
>
>On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that new applications
>for unemployment insurance fell by a seasonally adjusted 25,000 to
>376,000 for the work week ending Nov. 16, leaving claims at their
>lowest level since the week ending July 20.
>
>Hurlston was laid off in June from her $42,000-a-year job at the
>Marriott Hospitality Public Charter School in Washington, where she
>was dean of career and student services. She had worked there for
>three years.
>
>She receives about $550 every two weeks in unemployment benefits.
>Hurlston, who is living with her mother, is substitute teaching for
>extra money, but it hardly pays the bills. For that, she's forced
>to dip into her retirement savings. She's sent out hundreds of
>resumes and has been called in for just two interviews without
>success.
>
>''In the beginning there was anger, then frustration, and now
>distress,'' she said. ''I never ever thought it would take this
>long to find a job. Without my mother I probably would be in a
>homeless shelter right now.''
>
>AFL-CIO president John Sweeney criticized House Republicans for
>''turning their backs on unemployed workers'' while approving
>legislation sought by drug companies and insurance companies in
>last-minute legislation before adjourning. That ''is just plain
>mean-spirited and perverse,'' he said.
>
>The Senate's $5 billion plan would have extended benefits an
>additional 13 weeks for people currently receiving them. The House
>passed a more modest $900 million plan of five extra weeks for
>workers in a few states with high unemployment rates.
>
>Some economists argue that the cost isn't a burden on the rest of
>government because the federal unemployment insurance trust fund
>contains more than $25 billion for such purposes. Such spending
>also will help boost the economy, they say.
>
>''These are economic times that demand using such funds,'' said
>Wendell Primus, a director at the Center on Budget and Policy
>Priorities, a liberal-leaning institution.
>
>Shirley Deane, 53, said that last December she lost her $25,000-a-
>year job as an administrative secretary at Howard University in
>Washington and still cannot find work.
>
>She ran out of unemployment benefits in August, and has no health
>insurance and no retirement savings. The future looks bleak, she
>said.
>
>''I've been taking tests, going on interviews,'' she said. ''I've
>never had this hard a problem finding a job. Never.''
>
>© Copyright 2002 The Associated Press
>
>
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