1.5 Million To Exhaust Unemployment Benefits By The End Of The Year

More than 500,000 Americans will exhaust their unemployment benefits by the end of September. And by the end of the year, the number will near 1.5 million, according to a report released Friday by the National Employment Law Project.

"It is clear we are coming up on a tidal wave of need for more extensions and help from the federal government," said Andrew Stettner, NELP deputy director, in a statement.

David Smith, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, told the Huffington Post that up to 25,000 people will exhaust their unemployment benefits this weekend alone.

"It's the first large wave," he said.

In California, 177,759 will lose their benefits come January; in New York, the total is 131,893. More than 72,000 people in Michigan, where the unemployment rate hit 15.2 percent in June, will stop getting checks at the beginning of the year.

The NELP praised the $787 billion stimulus package for covering the full cost of extended benefits for 2.8 million workers. But the report, noting the record number of long-term unemployed -- 4.4 million people have been out for 6 months or longer -- calls for an expansion of benefits for people who will run out in September.

"Never in the history of the unemployment insurance program have more workers been unemployed for such prolonged periods of time," Stettner said. "With an onslaught of exhaustions just around the corner, Americans still need robust benefits to keep their families and communities above water."

Federal Reserve leaders forecast on Wednesday that they don't expect the economy to get its act together for another five or six years. Many economists are calling for additional stimulus spending by the government.

Click here for a PDF of the NELP's state-by-state breakdown.

Comments

[NoExpertsNeeded]

Job loss...Been there. Done that. Yep, still 'there'. My heart goes out to those still getting 'pinked'.

For me, losing my job was one of those defining moments in life. I knew I had a choice: I could choose to lose my way (my mind) or rise to the challenge and follow what my Spirit tells me to do, always remembering that I am more than a statistic on the news.

I'll share with you what I was told the day I got "set free" (laid off) from my job: "This is a new chapter in your life. WRITE ONE HELL OF A CHAPTER!" And I did just that! Will you?

So if you just need a break from the doom and gloom, let me send you a FREE book download...no strings attached, really!

Sign up now: www.noexpertsneeded.com

Yes, times are tough, but it doesn't mean that we can't still 'give back' to one another. This is simply my way...

take care,
Louise Lewis, author
No Experts Needed: The Meaning of Life According to You!
www.noexpertsneeded.com

[Eres]

Thanks Louise!
I look forward to reading the download.

[Tom95134]

Wait until this wave hits the housing foreclosure issue.

The big mistake Obama made was to put the stimulus money in the hands of the States. They are political animals and will use it to make their politicians look good. Lots of States are spending the stimulus money of work that is being done in rural area by favored contractors who are not hiring people but using it to stretch out projects instead of spending it in urban areas where contractors would have to hire new workers.

Also, this money has been so slow in coming to the States that in some cases the State's own financial crisis keeps them from using it because they don't have the necessary matching funds. FDR was right in what he did. Go direct with Federal jobs programs.

[QolourCouture]

What so many people don't get is , that we are still riding the wave of George Bush decisions ..Barack can not fix something that was done over a 8yr period , within 6 months ..It just can't happen ..The war is kicking our A$$$..We should not be mad at Bush or Barack because Congress are the ones who say yes to any policy or spending ..We need to ousted the whole Congress because they have no clue on how to make decisions... Im mad a CONGRESS not anyone else ..They walk up every morning to a job and can look followed to a pay check but half of the US don't...ITS JUST sad...And its even worst for me a recent College grad who graduated from a Private College and can not find work anywhere ..CONGRESS HAS TO GO ASAP..../

[plwood01]

Many recent graduating college students are not getting calls because they are not turning in perfectly prepared materials and in your job search, you must make sure that you use spell check and that your materials do not have the kind of errors found in your post. That is a particular sore subject with recruiters. If you turn anything in with an error or bad grammar or fudge anything on your experience on your resume which by the way should only be page long, you will never get a resume to a hiring authority. If you have work experience make sure that the resume is no longer than two pages. I just thought that you could use this tip...it will change the way recruiters look at your application materials.

[texastrixie]

If you judge everybody by blogging posts, you will get a warped idea of the world. People do dash these off most of the time. The tips are good, but the tone is mean, not helpful.

[joelaf]

"Small business" seems to be the mantra on many lips these days. What percentage of these small businesses are mearly sole proprietorships? Many in the lighting industry are one man "distributors". They are merely middlemen, making their money on marking up goods. What a benefit to the economy......... their economy.

[bluguy8]

well we could
1- punish companies exporting jobs--take away tax incentives
2- punish companies that hire illegals over American citizen's -- enough already
3- incentives given to people starting companies
4- take away tax incentives from American co's that are now multinationals and using it illegally
5-Really start green jobs--stop talking about them

[confuseddemocrat]

1-3, 5 are excellent points

4 will wreck the economy

[sueinmn]

Multinational companies have wrecked our economy with cheap imports, cheap labor.


Why are you against punishing companies who hire illegals?

[ruth606]

2- Because SO MANY Americans would take a job picking lettuce at the wages currently being paid for the position. And so many Americans would be THRILLED to pay 10 bucks for a head of lettuce when the labor costs are driven upward.

[sueinmn]

Get off the feild work! They do manufacturing, construction, theybasically are in all the job markets as you havent noticed!

[texastrixie]

Most illegals have infiltrated the construction jobs, thus it is hard to get anyone to pay more than $10 an hour.

[Carl Caroli]

The biggest nugget of truth here is that it's going to take 5-6 years to recover. The majority of the unemployed, poor and middle class will not last that long, so expect things to get much, much worse during that period. Let them eat cake.

[robbep]

or green shoots.

[totaldisbelief]

or go to FEMA camp

[plwood01]

Actually, just like the case of our jobs going overseas, educated Americans can go over seas also and take jobs away from the peasants in other countries. Perhaps that is the way it is supposed to go? Perhaps that is the reason all this has happened. Perhaps we should venture out into the world since we have a global economy now. Perhaps we will be inspired to use our creativity and our imaginations to build a new kind of world where the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...novel thought perhaps, but if we intend to survive through the next centuries following this one, we must get a grip and buckle down, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get over what has happened to the country, much like the majority of rich people in this country keep telling minorities they need to do!!!!

[themodernleader]

Time4change 2009. I don't know. My dark vision and rantings are meant to instill in leaders the will, effort, determination, courage and vision to turn this broken country towards a new destiny. At heart, I am a gullible optimist who knows the real worth and strength of our insecure and frightened people. We may still be able to put our country on the right road to a new renaissance and future.

[totaldisbelief]

How....by using the same business plans and cast of characters that got us here?

[TJCole]

We'll have to extend Benefits it's Stimulus and important, otherwise things will really get ugly...!

[ccpostman]

"We'll have to extend Benefits"

Creates no jobs, just a welfare state.

The stimulus is for promoting growth and new businesses, which gets people off unemployment benefits.

It will get ugly no matter what!

[sueinmn]

Until they create jobs, the unemployed need to survive. They are the victims here also!

[Tom95134]

The only way to extend the stimulus plan is to put the Federal government in the position of general contractor just as FDR did. The current approach of funneling money through the States has been a bust because the States use it in a way that benefits their own political desires. Just look at how highway money has been pushed out into rural areas by some of the states while urban areas get very little.

[plwood01]

Agreed, the states were low on revenues anyway so they are looking our for their own paychecks right about now. IOUs are not being honored in California so that is the way the states are looking at this. The only thing about that is that they have the jobs and don't want to end up like those without one. We really need to understand that the only way to recover from 8 years of fiscal irresponsibility is to spend the next 8 years working tooth and nail to get back on the right track.

[olephart]

OK, it’s been 6 months since Obama took office. The War is Iraq is following Bush’s withdrawal plan of slow to never. The other phony War is dragging on consuming resources and losing lives to no avail. The military empire continues to waste precious monies at a rate of 700 billion per year. The worthless Bush tax cuts are still in effect costing 300 billion per year and producing no jobs or growth. The Wall Street bailout orchestrated by Bush and Paulson has been continued, the jackals are still paying themselves billions and no one has been taken to task for their fraudulent actions. When does the Administration we voted for start?

From the beginning Obama underestimated the damage done by Bush, Wall Street and 28 years of Reaganomics. His selection of Geithner and Summers, his quest for bipartisanship and his accommodation of Republican policies have doomed his efforts to mediocrity. Everything Bush must go! End the Wars, rescind the Bush tax cuts, end the military Empire, reverse privatization, rescind the Wall Street bailouts and prosecute every fraudulent bankster. Reregulate the financial system and if necessary provide Government backed loans to businesses to keep things going. The monies saved from the military boondoggles and irresponsible tax cuts would fund both health care and a massive increase in alternative energy investments. The Nation can be rebuilt only with the exclusion of all things Republican. More of the same is insanity.

[LemonMeringue]

"The Nation can be rebuilt only with the exclusion of all things Republican. More of the same is insanity."

Thank you. Every day should be Opposite Day in Washington. Reverse everything ~~Bush~~ Cheney did.

I want the dead they killed brought back, too.

[anandakos]

Ole,

I think you suffer from the mistaken impression shared by many Americans that President Obama is a Democrat. So far as I can see, he is in one way only: he actually listens to scientists. Oh, yes, he is registered as a Democrat and has been elected as one. But frankly he acts more like a house slave for the Wall Street crowd than a Democrat.

[totaldisbelief]

same old wine ..brand new bottle.

[LHoney]

Faved and fanned. Where is the man we elected? When Repubs are in power, democrats get nothing but when dems are in power, they want to play nice... All so hopeless for the middle class.

[bushisanAhole]

What this story fails to mention is the millions of people who were self employed or worked on commission. They didn't get anything - no unemployment benefits or help of any kind. I was one of those. I made a good living for a long time. A few years ago I had to close my business and burned up most of my assets trying to survive while I found a job. I got very lucky and found a job working for the state as a financial worker. Now I see a lot of people, just like me, coming in to get food stamps or any help they can. They are not proud or happy to be there, but they too went from a good salary to losing everything, through no fault of their own. There are only so many jobs to go around, so to the arrogant condensending people who have jobs and feel they must put in their two bits on this site - these people in desperate times don't need you talking down and insulting them. Folks, things are getting worse, no matter what the news is saying. Job loss, foreclosures, and despair are all going to increase, maybe for awhile. Take whatever help you can get, hang on, you will get through this. Swallow your pride and do what you must. And ignore these idiots who think they are better than you. I'm sure a lot of them will be on the other side soon enough.

[SeriousBlack]

Very well said.

[themodernleader]

What type of economic system do we have? I am no sure. We had a mixed economy system in our golden age. Beginning with Reagan, the system became deregulated and the laws were written to benefit speculation, destruction of our manufacturers by opportunists from Wall Street and other predatory (monopolistic) capitalism.
The destruction of our economy was masked by easy money and incessant borrowing everywhere by public and private. Churning, that is, buying and selling became fashionable. A bubbled economy became our definition of prosperity. Now the results is economic collapse resulting from financial malefeasance and massive fraud.
What is such a system called? It is not capitalistic, Nor socialistic, Most certainly not a mixed economy. All it could be called is a pre-determined financial, economic casino which has as its end goal plutocracy and oligarchy. It could also be called corrupt, mismanaged, incompetently operated commerce of a failing country.
The only overt values or goals that initiated this new system was efficiency and free enterprise (the freedom of the strongest to destroy the competitive enterprises of everyone else). The covert values or goals were self-interest, selfishness, greed that revolved into hubris, outrageous corruption and payoffs of our politicans and destruction of the Constitution and rule of law.
The present Administration policy is to reward this new economic system with favored treatment and with more of the same. Our days of reckening are just starting for such reckless, ignominous behavior.

[time4change2009]

Absolutely excellent post. You're obviously a very good and well informed writer. We work with a blog and would like to share some of your writings. How can we connect ?

[AirViceMarshalPark]

"Our days of reckening..."

You'll need to hire a proofreader, too.

[gcallaghan]

a "a pre-determined financial, economic casino." If by pre-determined, you mean the tables are rigged, I agree whole heartedly.

[dream9]

Yes, and folks here might want to take a look at a great book which explains just how and by whom those tables were rigged. It is The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. Read the reviews on Amazon.com before buying it.

[robbep]

We might have to come to the conclusion that our current system of government is not equipped to do the hard things needed to turn this country around. We are so caught up in liberal vs conservative and right wing vs left wing that we cant sit down and decide what will best benefit this country. The only thing we can get done as a nation is go to war against some third world country. We know our public education system, healthcare system, infrastructure, and economy are collasping but our ideological battles keep us from confronting the issues in unity. Other countries put the good of the nation ahead of private wealth and this allows them to get things like providing healthcare for all its citizens done. We emphasize the individuals right to get rich and accept 47 million people without healthcare. We accept poorly educated kids because they are not ours and we ignore what the affect of having so many uneducated kids will have on this country. We are a country of me not we and our competition is just the opposite. For those of you who have competed in team sports you know the team who plays like a team will always beat a team of individuals no matter how talented those indivduals are. So unfortunately our current system of government may be the obstacle that prevents us from overcoming obstacles that other countries resolve.

[totaldisbelief]

bravo

[anandakos]

Excellent post, Leader. I particularly like "the freedom of the strongest to destroy the competitive enterprises of everyone else". A great example is before us this very day. CIT is "in talks" with JP Morgan Chase The Dollar and Goldman Sucks. CIT company has a long history of taking insurance premia and investing them in small to medium enterprises (SME's), the American equivalent of the Mittelstand in Germany. Unfortunately, CIT was and is "publicly listed", not a mutual company, so when the ponzi finance boom erupted in 2003, the board was eager to get on board and puff up the members' option grants.

The hucksters at GS, Bear and Lehman sold lots of empty boxes to CIT, and they have now imploded, leaving the company insolvent.

So a major funder of the sorts of companies that the stock market doesn't really help will be removed from the playing field, making it that much harder for small businesses with a good idea to get off the ground.

[totaldisbelief]

sir ..you are correct

[TJCole]

"We are a government of the bankers, by the bankers, and for the bankers.....not the people..!"

[gypsy508]

I got a check yesterday. I'm broke so I needed to cash it right away, not having the time to deposit it in my account and wait for it to clear. It was written on a Chase account so I took it to a Chase branch to cash. They charged me $5. Do they not even honor their own checks?

[glomtt]

I had a bank do me like that. I wrote myself a check from my boss's account and went to cash it at the bank the check was drawn on. Since I didn't have an account with the bank, they wanted to charge me $3.00. I needed to cash it right away, but I was not going to give that bank money to honor their own check. I ended up depositing the check into my checking and waiting the 2 days. I refuse to give them greedy banks any money unless I can't get around it.

[dream9]

Yeah, so much for "Free Checking."
I can write you a check for free but you have to pay my bank to cash it. Seems our country is becoming just one scam on top of another.

[VegasWolf]

"we are a government of the greedy corporations, by the greedy corporations, and for the greedy corporations!"

Bankers are just one class of greedy corporation, don't forget HMOs, Insurance companies, IBM, GE, etc, etc, etc, who shed American jobs to save a few bucks by using cheap overseas labor or maliciously twist Congress to give them benefits to the detriment of the American people ( Insurance cos, Credit Card Cos ).

[Disdain]

And it will only get worse. The backbone of this country's economy, the small businesses who employ most Americans are under assault. Threatened with ever increasing taxes and fees to support an ever increasing and greedy government. The government is not going to employ all of these unfortunate people, businesses will. But what small business in this climate is going to expend and hire more completely with the threat of a huge tax increase at year-end? Instead everywhere you turn, small business owners are re-evaluating their workforce to determine which workers to let go. The government handouts can only go so far.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

"the small businesses who employ most Americans are under assault"

The assault on small businesses started with Reagan.

Before he took office, (1) the Social Security tax rate was lower and (2) the cap or the point at which the self-employed and employers stop paying Social Security taxes on wages and salaries was lower.

It's true that Reagan did not initiate the practice of borrowing from the Social Security trust fund, and that the practice was started by LBJ, and continued by Nixon, et al, but the great increase in the employment taxes on Reagan's watch allowed him to borrow even more. It was a stealth tax.

Supposedly, Reagan lowered taxes and was a friend of business. This is a myth. Prior to the time that he took office and borrowed from the enhanced Social Security trust fund, the Social Security taxes paid by a small business owner with net earnings of $50,000 was only a few hundred dollars. When the cap was raised and the rate was raised, the tax liability jumped to several thousand dollars.

[gypsy508]

What you say is true but Democrats have been particularly nasty towards small business, dumping just about everything on their shoulders.

[Patriot86]

No matter what the taxes are or the deficit, small business can not support the economy of this country. In order to produce enough small business, you need investment money. Small business fails quite often and in the past another was created to take its place thanks to investment capital. Now there is no capital because we are broke. A country must make something to remain prosperous. You need industry which we have basically destroyed with very stupid free trade policies. The idea that small business would ride to the rescue of workers displaced by the downfall of manufacturing was always a fairy tale...because small business depended on such industries to produce customers with cash in their pockets. What Wall Street does not yet realize is that they can not thrive in the end without a healthy American manufacturing sector and without an affluent American middle class-they trade paper around and engage in emotional trading which is completely meaningless...the Chicago school of business model was completely wrong and every American is about to pay the price for disastrous supply side economics.

[Adartist777]

"David Smith, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, told the Huffington Post that up to 25,000 people will exhaust their unemployment benefits this weekend alone."

Yes, and I'm one of these. There is no rescue around the corner and I apply to two to three jobs a week.

I'm sure many of us in this group are preparing for this. I'm going to attempt to sell personal items online to make ends meet. There is the possibility that I may have to go on welfare, which is something I've never done before and don't want to do. I've attempted to stay off food stamps by purchasing food with my unemployment benefits, but that appears to be over now. It looks like I'll have to apply for food stamps, too.

Congress should address this issue before its summer recess.

Many of us are sincere about finding work. As a computer geek, I have applied for jobs that offer on the job training or have applied for minimum wage jobs that have no bearing on my skills, just to make some kind of income. I just want to work again like most people. My friends that are currently employed live in daily fear that they will be laid off. You might call it economic terrorism because of the current economic threat of losing one's job. The jobs just aren't there and the competition is very high when applying for a single job opening.

[baddadd49]

why so sad, didnt I hear all of you saying "We won" you should all be happy, how is that all working out for you?

[Davwbaird]

you love the misery of others caused by the monster bush

[Disdain]

It's about waking you up. The reality is government can not take care of all of your problems. Individuals drive and ambition that leads to the creation and expansion of jobs is the key to getting us out of this. If we quell that, that 10% unemployment rate is going to look like a walk in the park,

[conservatist2010-12]

Of course not.....The Democrats are just as much to blame..the dems deregulated the banks....we can trace all recessions back to government interfeerence in the Free Market....We are trying to help you....DONT RELY ON GOV>...they cant help you..they make it worse

[tigerlyly]

Politics is neither the cause nor the solution for many of our economic woes.

[Pavane]

Of course it is. For so many reasons.