Failing to extend unemployment insurance isn't just mean, it's stupid

Daily Kos Staff

Friday December 13, 2013 · 8:43 AM PST

2013/12/13 · 08:43

Graph showing the rate of long term unemployment when emergency unemployment insurance benefits ended. It's 2.6% now, and after past recessions it was never higher than 1.3%.

The long-term unemployment rate is double what it has been when Congress allowed emergency unemployment insurance benefits to lapse after past recessions, as the graph above shows. Not only would Congress be failing jobless people if it fails to extend emergency benefits, though, it would be failing the economy:

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that an extension would boost the economy by up to 0.3 percent by the end of 2014 and add up to 300,000 jobs. Not extending the benefits would remove that potential boost from the economy.
To put the emergency unemployment insurance program's economic impact of in perspective, it's about the same size as the impact of the Murray-Ryan budget deal in 2014. [...]

As I mentioned at the top, the budget deal meets some important criteria, including one I've mentioned often on this blog: it raises deficits in the near term to boost the economic recovery, but reduces them by an even larger amount later, when the economy is expected to be stronger. But here's the rub: The economic drag caused by lawmakers' failure to include an extension of federal emergency jobless benefits in the deal would likely negate that stimulus.

Nonetheless, expect Republicans to fight against extending these economy-boosting emergency benefits.

Failing to extend unemployment insurance isn't just mean, it's stupid

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