The Labor Department reported last week 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 said immediate steps must be taken and is calling for an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits. He called the new jobless figures "a wake-up call."
"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," Sweeney said.
Reprinted from the AFL-CIO news site, http://blog.aflcio.org
Share
The Labor Department reported last week 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 said immediate steps must be taken and is calling for an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits. He called the new jobless figures "a wake-up call."
"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," Sweeney said.
Reprinted from the AFL-CIO news site, http://blog.aflcio.org