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We know the human toll of our current economic recession: hard-working people who, through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs and means for supporting their families. While the pace of the job loss has slowed, the statistics are still daunting. Michigan, which has an unemployment rate of 15.2%, has lost 406,000 jobs since the start of the recession in 2007. Nationally, there are almost 15 million people unemployed, the greatest number since the 1939. The underemployment rate has reached 16.8 percent and more than one-third jobless workers have been out of work for more than six months.
But to really understand what’s happening we have to look at the personal stories. The House recently passed an extension to the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program to provide 13 more weeks of benefits in the hardest hit states. Yesterday, during the debate I told the story of Larry S., a Madison Heights resident and steelworker for25 years who was laid off in May of 2008. He had called my office the morning of the vote to share his story and this is what he said:
You know, I never thought this would happen to me. I have never been unemployed before. This economy is unlike anything I could ever imagine. I am very grateful for each extension of benefits. But I really want to get back to work. There is this misconception that people like me are sitting back and waiting for the next unemployment check. I really really want to get back to work. I want to get back to doing my part and earning a paycheck. This [unemployment] is agony, it really is. I’m just waiting for the right phone call: ‘Come to Work.’
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