Earlier this month I crossed a rather depressing threshold: I became a “99er” which means I have been effectively out of work (technically, I’m profoundly underemployed) for 99 weeks or longer. That is the point at which all unemployment benefits end, forever. Beyond food stamps and perhaps welfare, there isn’t much beyond non-governmental charity. This used to be a tiny fraction of all unemployed, but the numbers are rising steadily higher.
As an aside, this is the group that was conspicuously left out–hardly even discussed–when Congress and the Obama Administration voted to extend unemployment benefits last December. Now a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service confirms what many of us have suspected: the number is big and getting bigger. According to the report (“The Trend in Long-Term Unemployment and Characteristics of Workers Unemployed for More than 99 Weeks”) there are 1.4 million workers who have been unemployed for 99 weeks or more. Men and women are represented roughly equally. All levels of education are found in this group, with older workers making up a large share.
Others claim that the number given by the CRS undercounts the number of 99ers. A report on Huffpost states that several estimates are much higher, some as high as 7 million. This would not surprise me given the way the government fudges inconvenient numbers like unemployment. This report also notes that Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) told HuffPost on Monday that the Lee wants to reintroduce legislation to provide additional weeks of benefits. However, given that the GOP has shown willingness to take food out of the mouths of the hungry to maintain ideological purity, it’s doubtful that the GOP-controlled House will oblige.
A .pdf version of the CRS report is available here.
