Today's update: I'm very pleased that Ridemybike's diary on unemployment has gotten most rec status! Please read his very important call to action diary. As he tells, the appalling inaction of our Senators leaves millions starving now and homeless next.
PLEASE PLEASE heed his call to action. Please also contact the Democratic Party and let them know that passing the unemployment benefits extension needs to be top priority.
The numbers: - 9.5% unemployment rate
- 14.6 million unemployed - nearly half, 6.8 million of the 14.6, have been unemployed for longer than 6 months - An additional 2.6 million people are unemployed (total of 17.2 million!) and want to work but were not counted in the statistics because they've given up looking for work - An additional unknown number of older unemployed have taken early Social Security retirement or Social Security disability - 2.2 million (and more than 53,000 more each day) are no longer receiving any benefits because the Senate (including our Democrats) failed to pass an extension - 2 to 4 million are ineligible for benefits due to being unemployed more than 99 weeksA Matter of Life And Death For Some:
I'm reposting this segment from yesterday because it is so very important. There is a strong implication that the number of suicides is increasing due to unemployment and the lack of resources available to the unemployed.
An excerpt from Calls to Suicide Hotlines Skyrocket Along with Unemployment:
As joblessness rates rise, people are getting desperate. One of the saddest signs of the continuing recession to date, calls to suicide hotlines have risen nearly 20 percent.
We've chronicled how many people have been without a job for over two years, and how companies have begun to discriminate against the unemployed. Legislators are even making unemployment synonymous with criminal behavior, calling for drug testing for people receiving jobless benefits. Add to that serious debt, eviction, foreclosure and the like, and it's easy to see how it has become a perfect storm that is likely leading to rising suicide rates.
Although federal statistics on suicide rates are usually two to three years behind, counting the number of calls coming into a suicide hot line is a much more timely measure of how many people are facing desperate circumstances. The National Suicide Prevention Network, which operates hotlines around the country, says rates of calls have jumped 18 percent just between January and May of this year.
Update on progressive action/inaction:
Sadly, I have to report that yesterday's diary contained a poll which several Kossacks felt inclined to mock and/or really don't care about the unemployed. Here are the sad results.
I will...
give the politicians in Washington a nasty earful and tell them to provide benefits 30% 10 votes continue to ignore the plight of the unemployed 33% 11 votes I will not be silent: I'm contacting (already contacted) politicians, organizations, and the media. 36% 12 votes