By Bill Wilson –
The Department of Labor’s unemployment report is dramatically at odds with Gallup and other non-partisan employment rate predicting surveys. If the Labor Department is to be believed, the job market is improving rapidly with almost a million jobs created in the private sector with the unemployment rate declining .9% in the past three months alone. In spite of this reported good news, almost six million people are still on the unemployment rolls collecting benefits for more than the standard 27 weeks, and incredibly the workforce has declined by almost 2.2 million people over the past year.
The Obama Administration’s report’s claim that there are significantly improved prospects for employment eliminate all justification for continuing the state and federal budget crippling unemployment insurance extensions beyond 27 weeks. These extensions are projected to increase budget deficit by almost $100 billion this year according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
It is time for Congress to take the Administration at its word and immediately end the emergency unemployment insurance extensions that are crippling our nation’s economic future.
While this will be painful to some, the CBO states that the impact is likely not as severe as some would claim when they write, “In fact, had UI benefits not been available, some people would have made different decisions about work and seeking out other sources of income. For example, some people would have taken a job or increased their income from other sources, such as the added earnings of a spouse, and some older people would have retired earlier and received income from sources such as Social Security or private pensions. Moreover, employers would have made some different decisions about hiring and discharging workers, and economic conditions would have differed.”
Now is the time for our nation’s politicians to embrace this reported good news, and take action to protect America’s economic future but returning the length of these benefits to traditional levels.
Bill Wilson is the President of Americans for Limited Government. You can follow Bill on Twitter at @BillWilsonALG.
