Now that the U.S. is in a recession, holes in our social safety net are more apparent. To preserve and enhance national unity as we campaign militarily against terrorist fanatics, it is important to expose and repair those holes.
The holes range over a wide variety of human needs, especially jobless benefits and health care coverage:
The low levels of jobless benefits. Nationwide, the average weekly jobless benefit replaces one-third of a worker's weekly paycheck. The highest "replacement rate" is in Hawaii: 49.8 percent. Nobody else is close; few are over 40 percent.
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Further, jobless benefits last only 26 weeks. The House-passed "stimulus" package extends them for 13 weeks, but only in states where joblessness rose by 30 percent after Sept. 11. That's 17 states, says the Economic Policy Institute.
The latest state jobless statistics, for September, showed the rate in Louisiana rose from 4.8 percent in August to 5.3 percent then - and that was the only state with even a 10 percent increase. So would any workers get extended benefits?
The strict qualifications for jobless benefits. One-fifth of the workforce now is in some form of contingent employment, including as independent contractors and part-time workers. These contingent workers cannot get jobless benefits, which are geared to full-time workers who lost their jobs.
Jobless benefits also depend not upon workers' recent work history, but previous work history. Thus someone who lost his or her job as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would not get benefits based on work history for the three months before that date, but based on the work history for the months of April, May and June. If you took a job in July and lost it to the terrorists and their aftermath in September, tough luck.
The lack of health care coverage and the lack of ways to help jobless workers pay for it. Some 43 million people lacked health insurance - and that was before the rise in joblessness through most of this year, especially since Sept. 11.
Since George W. Bush took office in January, some 1.7 million people have lost their jobs. Thousands of them - the low-paid hotel, restaurant and service workers who lost employment more recently - couldn't afford health care in the first place. The others could try to get it under COBRA, but there are problems with that, too.
One is availability. If a company does not offer health care coverage to begin with, a worker can't get COBRA. The second is cost. As the president of the Oregon AFL-CIO noted, jobless workers must pay the entire COBRA health care premium themselves. In many cases, he noted, that payment would consume more than half of their weekly jobless benefits.
As a result, only 18 percent of eligible workers buy COBRA. Must jobless workers choose between rent, food and health care? That's a big problem with COBRA.
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Aid to Families with Dependent Children isn't there any more. That's important for minority groups and women - the last-hired and first-fired in this recession as in others. It is no coincidence the jobless rate for blacks rose in September by one full percentage point, to 9.2 percent. The rate for Hispanics rose 0.8 percent, to 7.2 percent. Expect more increases.
But "welfare reform" limited lifetime benefits to poor children and parents - white, black or Hispanic - to five years. Many of the women with children who recently escaped welfare, and who are now being fired, have exhausted their benefits.
The states can't help newly jobless women and minorities, even if they wanted to (and many don't). Because the recession has cut their income, the states are cutting social services. A conservative think tank warns that 23 states have less than a year's worth of cash to fund jobless benefits.
Add all this to a lack of information about eligibility for Medicaid and food stamps and you have a safety net full of holes.
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A safety net that lacks protection is the last thing we need as we combat worldwide terrorism. How enthusiastic will people be for a battle against Osama Bin Laden if they can't get food to eat, pay the rent, or take their children to the doctor?
That's why Congress must not only fund the war against terrorists, but fund the needs of our U.S. workers.
This commentary was written by Press Associates, Inc., a labor-oriented news service based in Washington, D.C. To comment, e-mail editor@workdayminnesota.org
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Now that the U.S. is in a recession, holes in our social safety net are more apparent. To preserve and enhance national unity as we campaign militarily against terrorist fanatics, it is important to expose and repair those holes.
The holes range over a wide variety of human needs, especially jobless benefits and health care coverage:
The low levels of jobless benefits. Nationwide, the average weekly jobless benefit replaces one-third of a worker’s weekly paycheck. The highest “replacement rate” is in Hawaii: 49.8 percent. Nobody else is close; few are over 40 percent.
online pharmacy buy keflex online no prescription
Further, jobless benefits last only 26 weeks. The House-passed “stimulus” package extends them for 13 weeks, but only in states where joblessness rose by 30 percent after Sept. 11. That’s 17 states, says the Economic Policy Institute.
The latest state jobless statistics, for September, showed the rate in Louisiana rose from 4.8 percent in August to 5.3 percent then – and that was the only state with even a 10 percent increase. So would any workers get extended benefits?
The strict qualifications for jobless benefits. One-fifth of the workforce now is in some form of contingent employment, including as independent contractors and part-time workers. These contingent workers cannot get jobless benefits, which are geared to full-time workers who lost their jobs.
Jobless benefits also depend not upon workers’ recent work history, but previous work history. Thus someone who lost his or her job as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would not get benefits based on work history for the three months before that date, but based on the work history for the months of April, May and June. If you took a job in July and lost it to the terrorists and their aftermath in September, tough luck.
The lack of health care coverage and the lack of ways to help jobless workers pay for it. Some 43 million people lacked health insurance – and that was before the rise in joblessness through most of this year, especially since Sept. 11.
Since George W. Bush took office in January, some 1.7 million people have lost their jobs. Thousands of them – the low-paid hotel, restaurant and service workers who lost employment more recently – couldn’t afford health care in the first place. The others could try to get it under COBRA, but there are problems with that, too.
One is availability. If a company does not offer health care coverage to begin with, a worker can’t get COBRA. The second is cost. As the president of the Oregon AFL-CIO noted, jobless workers must pay the entire COBRA health care premium themselves. In many cases, he noted, that payment would consume more than half of their weekly jobless benefits.
As a result, only 18 percent of eligible workers buy COBRA. Must jobless workers choose between rent, food and health care? That’s a big problem with COBRA.
online pharmacy reglan for sale no prescription
Aid to Families with Dependent Children isn’t there any more. That’s important for minority groups and women – the last-hired and first-fired in this recession as in others. It is no coincidence the jobless rate for blacks rose in September by one full percentage point, to 9.2 percent. The rate for Hispanics rose 0.8 percent, to 7.2 percent. Expect more increases.
But “welfare reform” limited lifetime benefits to poor children and parents – white, black or Hispanic – to five years. Many of the women with children who recently escaped welfare, and who are now being fired, have exhausted their benefits.
The states can’t help newly jobless women and minorities, even if they wanted to (and many don’t). Because the recession has cut their income, the states are cutting social services. A conservative think tank warns that 23 states have less than a year’s worth of cash to fund jobless benefits.
Add all this to a lack of information about eligibility for Medicaid and food stamps and you have a safety net full of holes.
online pharmacy sinequan buy with best prices today in the USA
A safety net that lacks protection is the last thing we need as we combat worldwide terrorism. How enthusiastic will people be for a battle against Osama Bin Laden if they can’t get food to eat, pay the rent, or take their children to the doctor?
That’s why Congress must not only fund the war against terrorists, but fund the needs of our U.S. workers.
This commentary was written by Press Associates, Inc., a labor-oriented news service based in Washington, D.C. To comment, e-mail editor@workdayminnesota.org