Long-term unemployment fact: There were 92,000 Californians out of work a year or more when the recession began in December 2007. By May of this year — during the so-called recovery — that number had soared to more than 730,000, according to state Employment Development Department data.
To put that into perspective, the total of California’s long-term unemployed is more than the entire population of the state of Wyoming (568,300), Vermont (630,337), North Dakota (675,095) and Alaska (721,523).
This is not normal — at least it didn’t used to be the norm. Unemployment is up across the board since the recession began, but traditionally those newly laid off who have been out of work less than five weeks make up the biggest group of jobless workers.
For instance, in December 2007 there were 354,000 Californians out of work less than five weeks, 36.3% of the 973,000 unemployed in the state.
Now the short-term group only makes up 17.1% of California’s 2.2 million unemployed while the year-plus category is 33.4%. If you add in those who have been out of work six months to a year, nearly half — 46.8% — of California’s unemployed are classified as long term.
Loree Levy, an EDD spokeswoman said long-term unemployment during this recession has been about double that of prior recessions dating back to 1990.
EDD data shows the highest percentage of long-term unemployed before was in October 1994 when 25.7% of all of those laid off had been out of work 27 weeks or longer. (EDD doesn’t have a breakdown for those out of work a year or more for that period.)
Although there has been a lot of talk about retraining the workforce with skills to meet today’s needs so the unemployed can get jobs, there are no immediate plans for dealing with this large and growing unemployment problem.
Meanwhile, there has been little progress on the unemployment benefit front. Laid-off workers currently are eligible for up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits through the end of this year. However, with so many out of work for so long, nearly a half-million of those laid off in California have exhausted the nearly two years of aid.
The EDD reports that as of June 26, over 458,000 had run out of unemployment benefits. It is not known how many subsequently have found work.
Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and and Bobby Scott, D-Va. introduced H.R. 589 in February. The bill would extend so-called 99er unemployment benefits by 14 weeks for a total of 113 weeks.
Although informal talks reportedly are still underway, differences remain with the House Republican leadership over how to pay for the estimated $16 billion cost. The bill remains in committee and no action is scheduled on the legislation.
So tell us … What do you think should be done to help the long-term unemployed get back on the job?
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