Unemployment benefit claims hit highest level since 1982.
By on Feb 26th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Unemployment benefit claims hit highest level since 1982.
Unemployment figures released by the Labor Department this morning show that 667,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, while the number of people “remaining on the benefits roll after drawing an initial week of assistance increased by 114,000 to a 5.112 million.” The Washington Post explains that the “new claims are the most since October 1982, though the labor force has grown by about half since then.” Additionally, last week’s figures were revised upward by 4,000 to 631,000.
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bachmann
Beck
Boehner
Business
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
Dobbs
Economy
Education
Election
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Global Warming
Health Care
Hoffman
Immigration
International Relations
Iraq
Justice
LGBT
Lieberman
Limbaugh
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Politics
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Sports
Steele
Stimulus
Tea Parties
Tea Party
Terrorism
Veterans
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
And I’m one of those 667,000. Guess the rightards are going to be saying that I should have planned ahead of my unemployment.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:30 amAnd Exxon, having made record profits; the most of any corporation in history, shed 26,000 jobs during the bush years.
Another republican suck-cess story…
February 26th, 2009 at 10:37 amWhat? You mean Obama hasn’t solved the Bush Recession yet? He’s had a whole month!
February 26th, 2009 at 10:40 amAnd Exxon, having made record profits; the most of any corporation in history, shed 26,000 jobs during the bush years.
Maybe they could have saved some of those 26,000 jobs if they didn’t give their fat, greedy pig of a CEO a $400 million “bonus” a few years ago. I hate “free market capitalism.” It’s so…un-American.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:41 amWhat these people need is a tax cut /snark
February 26th, 2009 at 10:42 amBehold the wonders of the “invisible hand”, the free markets, and trickle down economics! The market will rally any minute now!
And you thought Republican economic policies were a failure…
/sarc off
February 26th, 2009 at 10:55 amI have my own business and haven’t been able to take a check for months. How do I get unemployment? I don’t think I can.
Anyhow, I’m hanging on, broke as can be, hoping the economy does a slow turn around in about six months.
Fingers crossed, knocks on wood, says a prayer.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:00 pmThis isn’t counting the countless millions who are uneligible to get benefits because their employers are crooks and continue to fight them in court.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:03 pmGregor Samsa Says:
Behold the wonders of the “invisible hand”, the free markets, and trickle down economics!
___________
Wouldn’t “invisible hand job” be a more apt metaphor?
This in turn could extend into the “invisible reach around”…
February 26th, 2009 at 12:16 pmDoes anyone know if illegal immigrants get unemployment benefits and also does anyone know how many illegal immigrants were in the country in 1982?
February 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pm‘82?
Gosh, that was after all those years of Carter, right? Oh, wait, remind me, who was president in 82…..??
Oh, yeah, one of the repugs who QUADTRUPLED our national debt, broke American working people’s unions, foreclosed on all the family farmers and began the rush to DEREGULATE banking and industry cause we can trust them to do what was right….eh?
February 26th, 2009 at 12:52 pmmiyun Says:
Does anyone know if illegal immigrants get unemployment benefits and also does anyone know how many illegal immigrants were in the country in 1982?
____________
Here’s how unemployment benefits work, at least in California.
You have to be a regular employee. I/Cs and people working under the table aren’t eligible. Perhaps some have figures out how to cheat around this, but by and large, you have to be an employee paying into the system.
Employers pay a small percentage of total payroll (called SUI in CA) into the St unemployment fund. I think this money is supplemented by the Fed govt.
YOU CANNOT COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT LEGALLY UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN EMPLOYED AND YOUR EMPLOYER HAS BEEN PAYING INTO THIS FUND.
If you get laid off, you can file a claim. In CA, this is admin’d by the EDD.
The EDD looks at your employment history. They go back 6 months from either the day you file or the day you got let go (I forget which…), then take the previous 12 months, select the highest quarter from that 12 month span, and set your unemployment benefits on that amount of money.
You are considered to have “x number of dollars” in your account. It is broken into 26 weeks worth of payments. After 26 weeks, if you haven’t found a job, and an extension hasn’t been granted by the govt, you’re on your won.
A lot of people don’t understand how unemployment works. You just don’t walk in and ask for money. You have to have been a regular employee, paying into the system.
If an “illegal immigrant” had a SS # and paid into the system long enough, he, or she, might be able to collect.
I suspect there were far less illegals in 1982. Just a hunch. Reagan, at the time, was supportive of them coming. It was widely seen as a way to break the unions. Another Frankenstein monster that turned on its creator.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:54 pmThanks to “The Republic of Stupidity” for your explanation. Thank you for taking the time.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:59 pmmiyun Says:
Does anyone know if illegal immigrants get unemployment benefits and also does anyone know how many illegal immigrants were in the country in 1982?
Good on TRoS for validating his posting name by answering your ultimately ridiculous inference in that question of yours.
February 26th, 2009 at 1:44 pmTweedster Says:
Good on TRoS for validating his posting name by answering your ultimately ridiculous inference in that question of yours.
Please enlighten me. Why was my inference ridiculous? My grandmother came here from Asia when she was way too old to put anything into “the system” yet was able to collect social security somehow. I was simply wondering if unemployment worked the same way. Sorry if I offended you. I have never applied for unemployment, nor have I ever known anyone who has collected it to date. Surely you aren’t saying that you know everything there is to know about the way our government works?
February 26th, 2009 at 2:17 pmTeresa, I’m one of those 667,000 too.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:33 pm