The Unemployed Are Slipping Into Poverty

It is no secret that we have far too many people unemployed in this country. The government officially lists about 13.9 people as being unemployed, but then they list another 2.6 million people as being "marginally attached" to the workforce -- which means they have virtually given up looking for a job and haven't tried in the last four weeks. That means there are at least 16.5 million unemployed people in this country (and probably more since the marginally attached group is almost surely undercounted), not to mention another 8.9 million who are working part-time because they can't find full-time employment.

The Republicans think these unemployed people are just lazy and don't want to take the jobs that are out there. That is a ludicrous idea. Recently the McDonald's Corporation hired about 60,000 workers (jobs, but not jobs that could decently support a family). But for every worker they hired, they had about 19 workers that were not hired. People are desperate for any kind of job, but they are just not available.

The only thing that is keeping many of these unemployed workers out of poverty is unemployment compensation checks. In early 2010, about 75% of the Labor Department's officially unemployed people were receiving these checks. And the Census Bureau said that unemployment compensation had kept at least 3.2 million people out of poverty that year.

But things are getting worse. There aren't enough jobs being created to make a real dent in the number of unemployed and more people each month are slipping into the long-term unemployed and those labeled as "marginally attached". Currently only about 48% of the 13.9 million officially unemployed are getting unemployment checks. That means about 52% (or about 7.23 million people) are not receiving a check. When you add in the marginally attached group, the percentage climbs even higher -- about 59.4% (or 9.8 million people) are unemployed and receive no check.

The sad part is that this percentage of Americans without both a job and an unemployment check is going to keep on growing larger. That's because the Republicans in the House continue to block both real job creation and any extension of the time a person can receive unemployment compensation. They figure if they can keep unemployment high and people hurting, they can blame it on the president and use that to win the 2012 election. And amazingly, they actually claim to be part of the "moral majority" -- although I can't understand how forcing people into poverty so you can win an election can possibly be considered moral or ethical.

It's no wonder that record numbers of people are slipping into poverty and the food stamp program's recipients have reached an all-time high. Out politicians have left people no choice. And now they want to slash the social programs that help these newly poor. The Occupy Wall Street protesters are not just right -- they are the only ones speaking up for the Americans that are hurting. The politicians and the corporations simply don't care as long as they can continue to get theirs.