Anonymous
WITHOUT FURTHER AID OR A PAYCHECK
Fri Jan 30 11:47:04 2004
67.1.139.31

Source: AP, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Jan. 29]
AT LEAST 2 MILLION JOBLESS WORKERS WILL EXHAUST STATE
UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS -- WITHOUT FURTHER AID OR A PAYCHECK -- in
the first half of the year.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
found that about 375,000 unemployed workers
are using up their state-funded jobless benefits in January
without having found a job -- and are receiving
no further government assistance.

This is the largest number of jobless workers
who will go without further assistance,
for any January on record, CBPP said,
even after adjusting for growth in the workforce.

Indeed, this month 2 1/2 times as many unemployed workers
will exhaust their regular benefits
without qualifying for additional aid,
as the average level in January from 1973-2003
(based on Labor Department data).

Congress has refused, so far, to approve another extension
of the 13-week Federal unemployment benefits program for jobless
workers whose state benefits run out -- the "forgotten man."

Moreover, during January-June 2004, CBPP estimates that 1.97
million unemployed workers are expected to be in this situation;
this will lead, of course, to an explosion in bankruptcy filings.

"In no other January-June period on record," CBPP said, "have so
many unemployed workers exhausted their regular benefits without
qualifying for additional weeks of unemployment assistance."

Yet, the crisis is much worse than CBPP says; CBPP assumes,
contrary to reality, that the economy will improve slightly in
the coming months, making it modestly easier to find a job.

[Source: wires, Jan. 27-29]

MANUFACTURERS CONTINUE SHUTTING PLANTS, CUTTING JOBS. A few
examples of the ongoing free-trade-induced industrial breakdown:

* FORD MOTOR CO. SAID IT WILL LAY-OFF 1,000 WORKERS AT ITS
ST. LOUIS ASSEMBLY PLANT, representing about 37% of the plant's
workforce, effective April 26. The world's second-largest
auto-maker said the lay-offs were due to falling sales.

* KRAFT FOODS SAID IT WOULD CLOSE 20 PLANTS WORLDWIDE, ELIMINATING 6,000 JOBS.

* STEELCASE INC. SAID IT WILL CLOSE TWO WOOD-FURNITURE
FACTORIES, cutting 640 manufacturing jobs as well as 130 salaried positions.

* EMERSON MOTOR CO. WILL SHUT DOWN ITS PLANT IN HUMBOLDT,
TENN. by the end of the year. The plant makes electric motors
used in refrigeration compressors.