Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Unemployment benefits need extending

In an April 27 letter to the editor, I noted not only the lack of employment available to Americans but also the benefit the economy received the first three months of 2010 due to the extension of unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed. I warned then that if unemployment benefits were not extended to the long-term unemployed, the economy would falter. During the first three months of the year jobs started to be created. Unfortunately long-term unemployment benefits have not been continued.

As reports show, the length of unemployment is up to record levels and, discounting temporary census jobs, only 41,000 jobs were created in May.

This will only worsen in the coming months as greater numbers of people exhaust their unemployment benefits and are unable to secure work. Unfortunately, Las Vegas did not directly benefit from the growth in the economy during the first quarter of 2010, and we are likely to suffer more as the economy backslides.

Our nationally elected representatives need to extend unemployment benefits for one year. This would pump money into the economy and reduce burdens on overextended state and local government services and create stability for both businesses and consumers. Stability will lead to confidence in the economy, which will lead to consumer spending and businesses hiring.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy