Unemployment Hits Katrina-Level High

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/02/22/unemployment-hits-katrina-level-high/

By James Parks, Feb 22, 2008

Just three weeks after the unemployment figures showed the first overall loss of jobs in years, we learn that joblessness is the highest it’s been since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in October 2005.

The Labor Department reported yesterday that the four-week average for initial jobless claims reached 360,500. The four-week average for the week ending Feb. 16 was 30,000 higher than this time last year. The total number of workers actually drawing an unemployment check also peaked at post-Katrina levels at 2.784 million workers, increasing by 48,000 in one week.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says immediate steps must be taken and is calling for an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits, with more time in high unemployment. But, says Sweeney:

Important as it is, the extension of unemployment benefits is still a short-term fix for a long-term, systemic problem: This economy is broken. In the long term, we need policies that create real, long-term prosperity for the people who actually do the work in this country—when there is work available to be done.

Click here to read the full Sweeney statement: http://staging.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/st02222008a.cfm