Casey, Fattah, Doyle, Brady, Schwartz and Cartwright Release County by County Report Highlighting Need to Extend Unemployment Insurance

Washington, DC- Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and Representatives Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), Bob Brady (D-PA), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and Matt Cartwright (D-PA) released a new county by county report that highlights the need to extend the unemployment insurance benefits that are set to expire at the end of this month. The report, which was produced by minority staff of the House Ways and Means Committee with data from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry shows that extending unemployment insurance would benefit over 73,000 Pennsylvanians. Further data shows that an extension of this program will boost GDP and job creation in the coming months.

“I’m urging Congress to come together on a bipartisan basis to extend unemployment insurance soon,” Senator Casey said. “Extending unemployment insurance will help those actively seeking work and provide a jolt to GDP as we begin the new year.”

“At a time when our country is seeing strong signs of recovery, the last thing we need is another self-inflicted economic wound,” said Congressman Fattah. “Unemployment benefits were designed to help out of work individuals get back on their feet and return to the labor force as soon as possible, with minimal loss of skills. Failing to extend unemployment insurance will hurt job creation and our country’s GDP.  This is a safety net for tens of thousands across our state and these benefits should be extended.”

“Millions of Americans are still out of work as a result of the recent recession,” Congressman Doyle said. “Unemployment has come down a lot, but at 7 percent, it’s still hard for many Americans to find work. The same is true in southwestern Pennsylvania. This isn’t the time to arbitrarily end federal emergency unemployment assistance to the long-term unemployed. Moreover, ending EUC now will slow economic growth and job creation. It makes no economic sense, and it’s no way to treat our neighbors whose deepest desire is to get another job.”

Congressman Brady: “It’s no surprise that Americans think that the 113^th Congress is the worse in our history. It’s a disgrace that the House’s majority won’t pass an extension for unemployed working class people when they’re perfectly fine with continuing tax breaks for billionaires.”

Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz said, “It is unacceptable that Congress has failed to pass an extension of emergency unemployment benefits for Pennsylvanians who are struggling to find work. Right now, 73,000 Pennsylvanians face losing a critical economic lifeline on December 28th. And, economists from all perspectives have warned that failing to extend unemployment benefits hurts our economic recovery. Congress must act as quickly as possible to help Pennsylvanians who are looking for work, protect existing jobs and strengthen our economy.”

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found that extending unemployment insurance will increase GDP while helping Americans find work. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently released a report detailing the economic impact of failing to continue UI through 2014.  The EPI analysis found that 310,000 jobs and $37.8 billion of economic activity would be lost if UI expires.

The federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program was first enacted in June 2008, when the national unemployment rate stood at 5.6 percent. The EUC program is scheduled to expire at the end of 2013, with the last payable week ending on December 28th. After changes made to the EUC program in early 2012, there is no longer any phase-out for the program, so that every individual now receiving these benefits will lose them during the same week.

The Department of Labor estimates that the expiration of the EUC program would cut off unemployment benefits to approximately 1.3 million jobless Americans on December 28th. The percentage of jobless Americans who have been unemployed for longer than 6 months remains close to historic levels. About 37 percent of the unemployed, or over 4 million people, are now long-term unemployed.

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