No, Taking Away Unemployment Benefits Doesn’t Make People Get Jobs

[xchrom]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/05/20/3439561/long-term-unemployment-jobs-illinois/



When 1.3 million long-term unemployed people lost benefits because Congress let the program lapse, some claimed that taking away the checks would encourage people to go out and get a job. That isn’t panning out for the 74,000 people who are no longer getting checks in Illinois.

In January, one month after they lost benefits, 64,000 of them, or 86 percent, were still unemployed, according to an analysis of wage records by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). February was similar: 61,3000 people were still unemployed, or 82.7 percent of the original group. That means two months later, four out of five people who were cut off from benefits still weren’t bringing in wages.

“This notion that temporary unemployment benefits provide people a reason not to return to work really needs to end because it is not supported by the data,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said.

Other natural experiments have shown that, rather than spurring a flurry of hiring, cutting off benefits can have disastrous consequences. North Carolina was ahead of the pack, making such drastic cuts to its benefits system that it was dropped entirely from the federal long-term compensation program. The number of state residents receiving benefits dropped by 40 percent to 45,000 by December. Since then, the unemployment rate has dropped, but not likely because people are finding work but because they’re giving up altogether. More than 22,000 found a job after the loss of benefits, but the state’s labor force is experiencing the largest contraction in history, with 77,0000 fewer people working or looking for a job in October compared to the previous year.

[MisterP]

1. there's little room in the GOP coalition's worldviews for anything structural: it's all on you

frankly the only structural perspectives are from 1) Big Business, which treats a $300,000 loss out of $30M the same way as a prole would treat a $300,000 loss out of $500,000 and 2) some of the militarists, who are Birchers and thus see Moscow's hand in every boardroom, party, church, university, and newspaper

[12kbush]

2. koch brothers

There net worth is $100 BIlLION, We are in a Recession & The Repubs-Conservatives like playing mind games. Vote Their Azzes Out Next Election 2014.