This has all kinds of negative ripple effects. As New Yorker financial writer James Surowiecki notes, "Being unemployed is even more disastrous for individuals than you'd expect. Aside from the obvious harm -- poverty, difficulty of paying off debts -- it seems to directly affect people's health, particularly that of older workers." He cites a study of the 1981-82 recession that found experienced male workers had soaring mortality rates in the year after layoffs and much higher than average death rates even 20 years later.
For reasons that are not entirely clear, jobless workers have a higher risk of dying from cancer, developing heart disease and psychiatric disorders, not to mention greater risks for divorce and suicide.
Surowiecki also points out that unemployment isn't just a problem for the unemployed and their loved ones. "It's bad for all of us. Jobless workers, having no income, aren't paying taxes, which add to the budget deficit. More important, when a substantial portion of the workforce is sitting on its hands, the economy is going to grow more slowly than it could. After all, people doing something to create value, rather than nothing, is the fundamental driver of growth in any economy."
Indeed, one factor that tends to pull down West Virginia's economic statistics is the fact that it has the lowest work-force participation rate in the country.
Work sharing isn't a cure-all, but it could help keep some people attached to the work force who would otherwise be lost.
Fortunately, the legislation mentioned above makes it easier for states to implement work sharing while also saving money. Under the new law, the federal government will pay 100 percent of work sharing benefits for up to three years for states that already have it and 50 percent for up to two years for states like West Virginia that agree to do it. Currently 24 states and the District of Columbia have work sharing.
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, West Virginia could receive $3.98 million if it passes legislation to implement work sharing. That would be enough money to provide regular unemployment benefits for more than 840 jobless workers for 16 weeks, at the national average benefit level of $296 a week. Not exactly chump change.
It doesn't happen every day that we have a chance to benefit businesses, workers, taxpayers and the public sector at one stroke. But we have one now.
The West Virginia Legislature should seal the deal.
Wilson, director of the American Friends Service Committee's West Virginia Economic Justice Project, is a Gazette-Mail contributing columnist.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Given the political gridlock in Washington these days, the odds of getting decent legislation passed are pretty small. But it can happen.
One example is the Middle Class Relief and Job Creation Act, which was signed into law in February. Somehow, a sharply divided Congress and a besieged administration managed to come up with a piece of legislation that could benefit employers, workers and taxpayers while saving states millions of dollars.
Work sharing provisions of the law could help to lower unemployment rates and the costs of unemployment insurance. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, work-sharing programs, or short-time compensation, benefit both employees and employers. Employers reduce workers' hours rather than lay them off. Workers receive prorated unemployment insurance benefits to make up for hours not worked, and remain employed.
Employers win by being able to keep trained employees on the payroll during cyclical downturns. Rather than hiring and training new workers when the economy picks up, they can just increase the hours of workers already on the payroll. This could save money as well as enhance productivity that would have been lost.
Workers who are able to stay in the labor force also win. Few things are as damaging to individuals, families or communities as long term unemployment, which has grown dramatically in recent years.
Prior to the Great Recession, few working people were jobless for more than six months. That number increased from 0.8 percent of the U.S. labor force in 2007 to 4.2 percent by 2010. This doesn't include those who have given up looking for work.
According to a recent New York Times column by unlikely allies Dean Baker, a progressive economist, and Kevin Hassett, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, "Long-term unemployment is experienced disproportionately by the young, the old, the less educated, and African-American and Latino workers. "
In a state like West Virginia, with its aging population, this is big deal. Baker and Hassett note that jobless workers between 50 and 65 have more than doubled. While older workers are less likely to be laid off than younger workers, they are only half as likely to be rehired. Their prospects for being rehired decline the longer they are unemployed.
Workers between 50 and 61 who have been jobless for 17 months have only a 9 percent chance of finding a job in the next three months. For workers 62 and older, the odds are only 6 percent.
This has all kinds of negative ripple effects. As New Yorker financial writer James Surowiecki notes, "Being unemployed is even more disastrous for individuals than you'd expect. Aside from the obvious harm -- poverty, difficulty of paying off debts -- it seems to directly affect people's health, particularly that of older workers." He cites a study of the 1981-82 recession that found experienced male workers had soaring mortality rates in the year after layoffs and much higher than average death rates even 20 years later.
For reasons that are not entirely clear, jobless workers have a higher risk of dying from cancer, developing heart disease and psychiatric disorders, not to mention greater risks for divorce and suicide.
Surowiecki also points out that unemployment isn't just a problem for the unemployed and their loved ones. "It's bad for all of us. Jobless workers, having no income, aren't paying taxes, which add to the budget deficit. More important, when a substantial portion of the workforce is sitting on its hands, the economy is going to grow more slowly than it could. After all, people doing something to create value, rather than nothing, is the fundamental driver of growth in any economy."
Indeed, one factor that tends to pull down West Virginia's economic statistics is the fact that it has the lowest work-force participation rate in the country.
Work sharing isn't a cure-all, but it could help keep some people attached to the work force who would otherwise be lost.
Fortunately, the legislation mentioned above makes it easier for states to implement work sharing while also saving money. Under the new law, the federal government will pay 100 percent of work sharing benefits for up to three years for states that already have it and 50 percent for up to two years for states like West Virginia that agree to do it. Currently 24 states and the District of Columbia have work sharing.
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, West Virginia could receive $3.98 million if it passes legislation to implement work sharing. That would be enough money to provide regular unemployment benefits for more than 840 jobless workers for 16 weeks, at the national average benefit level of $296 a week. Not exactly chump change.
It doesn't happen every day that we have a chance to benefit businesses, workers, taxpayers and the public sector at one stroke. But we have one now.
The West Virginia Legislature should seal the deal.
Wilson, director of the American Friends Service Committee's West Virginia Economic Justice Project, is a Gazette-Mail contributing columnist.
Get Connected