Our Lady of the Mountains at P.O. Box 727-1093 East College Ave., Stanton, KY 40380-2354 US - US Bishops Urge Extension of Unemployment Benefits

“As early as tomorrow, July 20, the Senate will vote on extending unemployment insurance benefits through November,” the alert begins. “Sixty votes are needed for cloture, which will stop a threatened filibuster, and allow the bill to be signed into law. In the last 48 days, nearly 2 million families have lost the financial support afforded them by unemployment insurance as a minority in Congress have refused to extend benefits.”

The alert continues:

The nation continues to recover from the recession that began in 2007, which is one of the worst economic periods for American families since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The national unemployment rate continues to hover near ten percent; 15 million Americans are officially unemployed; and 44 percent (six million people) have been out of work for more than six months. This is the highest number of long-term unemployed since the United States began keeping that data in 1948. For every job opening, there are five applicants.

Since the recession began, the U.S. economy has lost 8.5 million jobs, which means with new entrants to the workforce, eleven million new jobs must be created to return to the pre-recession unemployment rate of five percent. Although the economy has begun creating jobs, it will take a long time for jobs to be available for all workers who want them.

The alert had not been posted on the US bishops’ web site as of the morning of July 20.