FaultLines: Out of Work in the US

If you count all the people unemployed or under employed in the US today, you have a population of almost thirty million.

A country about the size of Canada.
...
On this episode of FaultLines we explore Washington's failure of imagination in dealing with unemployment, and we visit places where creative experiments in job creation are emerging from the grassroots.

Real News Network - April 9, 2010 - 23 min 30 sec
Out of work in the US
Al Jazeera: Tens of millions of Americans unemployed are a 'social state of emergency'

Unemployment Insurance State Trusts In Crisis

ProPublica Unemployment Insurance Tracker:

The unemployment insurance system is in crisis. A record 20 million Americans collected unemployment benefits last year, and so far twenty-five states have run out of funds and been forced to borrow from federal government, raise taxes, or cut benefits. In many other states the situation is deteriorating fast. Using near real-time data on state revenues and the benefits they pay out, we estimate how long state trust funds will hold up.

(Hover your mouse over states on the map to see the current Trust Fund Balance for each state, and the Future Prediction of the balance, or the current Borrowed Amount if a state is in the red)

Click on a state [below] to find the latest, plus detailed historical data and charts, and details on tax increases and benefit cuts.
AK - AL - AR - AZ - CA - CO - CT - DE - FL - GA - HI - IA - ID - IL - IN - KS - KY - LA - MA - MD
ME - MI - MN - MO - MS - MT - NC - ND - NE - NH - NJ - NM - NV - NY - OH
OK - OR - PA - RI - SC - SD - TN - TX - UT - VA - VT - WA - WI - WV - WY

The U.S. has 53 separate unemployment insurance systems. Each is free to set its own policies within broad federal guidelines and some states have well-funded systems, while many have let their reserves dwindle because of unsustainably low taxes or high benefits. Some states offer generous benefits to a wide spectrum of workers, while some offer much smaller benefits to a restricted group.

• Graphic Unemployment Tax Increases and Benefits Changes in 2010, by Olga Pierce, January 19, 2010
• Two Dozen States’ Unemployment Funds in the Red, Nine More Within Six Months, by Olga Pierce, January 19, 2010
• Payroll Taxes Rise for Employers, by Olga Pierce, January 19, 2010
• Unemployment Insurance Buckles After Years of Underfunding, by Olga Pierce, ProPublica - June 3, 2009