Rep. Doggett: Extend Benefits to Help Long-Term Unemployed

Rep. Doggett
Extend Benefits to Help Long-Term Unemployed

As we count our blessings with our families around the Thanksgiving table next week, many Americans will be counting the weeks that they have been searching for a job. Over one million, who have been unable find a job after more than six months of searching will undoubtedly remain thankful for that small federal benefit they receive.

If after a year of doing so little, the Republicans take their three-week holiday beginning in mid-December, while letting this vital program expire, that small measure of hope will also expire. Without prompt congressional action, assistance will be stopped next month for over a million individuals.

The long-term unemployed—the 36 percent of unemployed workers, who have been jobless for more than six months, are disproportionately older and also face bias because they have been unemployed so long. Though the unemployment rate has been reduced over the last four years, the Times reports that long-term joblessness is up by 213%. According to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the chance of an individual who has been unemployed for six months finding a new job in any given month is one in 10.

In Texas, the total weeks of unemployment benefits available since the height of the recession have been reduced by 40%. But we still have more than 68,000 individuals who have been unable to get a job after six months of actively seeking work.

Withholding benefits from those actively seeking work in a poor economic climate makes as much sense as withholding aid from those hurt by a poor climate. Cutting benefits can batter a household like a storm can tear at a house.

Creating new jobs, and training the unemployed to move into new jobs both are important, but we should also preserve this vital lifeline for folks who are actively searching for work.