Extended Unemployment Payments In 27 States: What About The Other 23?

Congress has passed a law extending unemployment insurance in the 27 states where the jobless rate  is above 8.5%. The bill passed by a margin of 331-83, so it had remarkably broad support.

Congress and the Administration are understandably worried that more than one million people will lose their income social safety net between now and the end of 2009. As the law passed Rep. Charlie Melancon of Louisiana said, “Unemployment knows no borders or boundaries, and is just as painful if you live in Natchez, Miss., or just a few miles away in Vidalia, La.,”

Melancon’s point about joblessness knowing no boundaries is a fine one. It raises the issue of what happens to people in the 23 states that are not included in the bill. The unemployed in those states are no less unemployed than they are in the 27 getting extra support. Once their benefits run out, they are no less desperate. The new legislation does not fix the problem of people running out of support payments from the government; it just contains it.

Aside from what appears to be a discrimination based on location, the legislation does not address the core issue of the government’s role in the job market. The benefits extension will cost about $1.7 billion. It is a wonder that the money is not going to programs to create jobs instead of sending out checks to support the jobless.

The drawback of all the government’s programs meant to arrest the increase in the number of Americans out of work is that they do not have specific provision for creating specific numbers of jobs in specific regions and in specific industries. Even the $787 billion stimulus package is aimed at creating or saving 3.5 million jobs. Which 3.5 million jobs is a matter of conjecture.

Douglas A. McIntyre