Weekend Economists Give Two Thumbs Up for Roger April 5-7, 2013

[Demeter]

34. Long-Term Unemployed Prepare For Sequester Pinch

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/06/176401906/long-term-unemployed-prepare-for-sequester-pinch?ft=1&f=1001

Almost five million Americans are considered long-term unemployed, meaning they have been searching for work for at least six months.

This week, their plight is getting a bit tougher as the government cuts their unemployment benefits because of the automatic reductions in federal spending that took effect recently.

people who have been out of work for at least 27 weeks...have regular unemployment benefits run out, and once they do the federal government provides extended benefits...next check will be smaller, a casualty of the budget stalemate in Washington...The cuts in the budget for long-term unemployment benefits are not big; about 10 percent. Maurice Emsellem of the National Employment Law Project says the actual reductions in people's checks will be bigger than that, at least over the next few months.

"Because the sequester is calculated on a fiscal year, which started in October, the amount of the cut has to be condensed into a much shorter time period," Emsellem says. "So they have until the end of September to implement a year's worth of cuts in benefits."

THIS IS INSANE!