By: Taskin Rahman

As the economy has taken a dive over the past year, the unemployment rate has risen significantly to 9.7 percent, and economists estimate that it could rise higher. The collapse of the financial and housing markets had massive ramifications on all facets of life. As institutions are going bankrupt, thousands of people are losing their jobs. In order to ensure subsistence income, unemployed citizens are looking to the federal government for unemployment benefits.

However, due to the dire condition of the nation’s economy, traditional aid is no longer sufficient. As a result, Congressman Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington, drafted legislation that calls for an extension of the period in which unemployed citizens may receive benefits. On September 22, after some heated partisan debate over President Obama’s general economic policies, the House of Representatives voted 331 to 83 and passed H.R. 3548, the Unemployment Compensation Act of 2009.

The bill extends the unemployment benefits period by an extra 13 weeks and adds an extra $25 to the weekly benefits in order to help keep unemployed individuals financially solvent. Most states previously offered unemployment benefits for 26 weeks at an average of about $300 per week. The funding for this $1.4 billion initiative will not increase the budget deficit since it is financed by the federal unemployment insurance trust fund, which has been accumulating tax revenue for over three decades.

This extension is a great relief for the longtime unemployed who are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. However, H.R. 3548 does not extend this benefit time period to everyone. Instead, the bill stipulates that a state’s unemployment rate must be 8.5 percent or higher for the extension to apply. Only 27 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are covered under this plan. 300,000 current workers and over 1 million workers in the covered regions will benefit from this plan by the end of the year. Although a substantial portion of the nation will gain from this bill, the fact remains that much of the nation’s unemployed remain at a disadvantage. Longtime unemployed citizens in states such as Nebraska and North Dakota are left without further help because their state’s overall unemployment rate falls short of the required cut off. In order to address this disproportion, the benefits may be extended to states that fall slightly short of the 8.5% requirement in the coming weeks, according to McDermott.

Despite the general positive effects of the legislation, many Republicans consider the bill’s passage as a sign that President Obama’s economic policies have been ineffective. The mere fact that the unemployment rate is still so high suggests that Obama’s earlier efforts to stimulate the economy by creating more jobs was not as successful as he projected. Approximately 5 million Americans have been unemployed for the past 6 months.

“The job-finding situation is still dire,” Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project said. The fact that there are six unemployed individuals for every available job opening highlights the disparity between the number of jobs available and the number of unemployed people. Since it is so difficult to find a job today, more people are remaining unemployed and for longer periods of time. The typical models of how long an individual remains unemployed no longer apply to this current economy.

Unemployment benefits are a controversial issue because of the tradeoff between financial survival and citizens’ potential indolence subsequent of receiving government benefits. At one end of the spectrum, Republicans argue that excessive assistance to the unemployed will only encourage individuals to quit working and live off of the government, an ostensibly European scenario. This would hurt the country’s productivity and lower our global standing. On the other hand, Democrats believe that failing to provide adequate unemployment benefits for fear of abuse will only exacerbate the unemployed population’s hardships. Without substantial unemployment benefits many unemployed individuals would be unable to support themselves or their family and fall into poverty. The maintenance of a proper unemployment benefit system is crucial to our nation’s health.

Politicians are not debating the actual unemployment payment amounts, but rather the benefits’ duration. Monthly unemployment benefits should be adjusted to reflect the cost of living expenses, including food, housing, and healthcare costs, so individuals can meet their basic necessities. In this manner, the incentive to permanently live off welfare is abandoned while the basic survival needs of the person are provided. The duration of unemployment benefits should reflect the average time is takes individuals to obtain another job. However, due to nearly unprecedented circumstances in the current economy, it is advised to allow for a benefit period extension of the period since prior statistics no longer apply to our employment conditions. Once the economy does recover, the extended benefit period could be removed, eliminating any potential idleness. With these accommodations, we may protect unemployed individuals’ financial livelihoods more effectively.