Atlanta's jobless grow as more help seems stalled

By Dan Chapman and Bob Keefe

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Metro Atlantans found it tougher to get a job last month as the region’s unemployment rate inched up to 9.9 percent, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday.

For the long-term unemployed -- roughly half the 28-county region’s 262,571 jobless -- the news went from bad to worse. The Senate failed again this week to extend unemployment benefits to people who haven’t been able to find a job for weeks, months or years.

In Georgia, roughly 7,000 people a week lose unemployment insurance that puts cash in pockets, food on tables and roofs over heads.

“Those extensions were critical; they were all I had coming in,” said Chuck Mitchell, a Conyers tax adviser who received the benefits during 18 months of unemployment. “It wasn’t enough to cover my mortgage note, but every little bit helped. It definitely kept us afloat.”

U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, Republicans from Georgia, oppose extending the benefits. All Senate Republicans vowed to filibuster any financial assistance for the jobless if it added to the federal deficit.

“If it’s paid for, I’ll support it,” Chambliss said. “What I’m voting against is to continue to increase this massive debt we’ve got.”

The jobless initially receive state benefits for as long as 26 weeks. Congress added a series of extensions, beginning in 2008, as the recession gathered force. Nobody can receive the insurance longer than 99 weeks.

Atlanta’s unemployment rate, like Georgia’s overall, continued its roller-coaster ride toward a still-distant economic recovery. One month (May), the area's jobless rate climbs a tad (up 0.1 percent from 9.8 percent). Another month (April), it drops (down 0.6 percent).

A year ago, 9.2 percent of Atlantans were jobless.

A deeper dive into the latest unemployment numbers uncovers some nuggets of good news, though. Atlanta employers added 15,300 jobs, the fourth consecutive month of job gains. And fewer people, most in the retail, manufacturing, construction and administrative fields, filed for first-time unemployment benefits.

But the region’s long-term unemployed, who’ve been without work at least six months, continue to find the jobs landscape bleak. Many of these longtime jobless depend upon state and federal unemployment insurance for economic survival.

“The economy remains in a crisis, and the long-term unemployed have the greatest need,” said Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. “It’s unfortunate that the extension of unemployment benefits has been caught up in partisan rancor and gamesmanship in Washington because the [unemployed] have done absolutely nothing wrong. They’ve lost jobs through no fault of their own, and they’re being forced to suffer as a result. That’s not right.”

The unemployed who continue to look for work, or retrain themselves, are eligible for the insurance benefits. Payments in Georgia range from $44 to $330 a week.

Mitchell, a former banker and grocery store manager, earned $380 a week in federal and state unemployment insurance. After taxes, he pocketed about $277 weekly.

Without a congressional extension, 200,000 jobless Americans will lose benefits weekly. In Georgia, 3,500 people lose state benefits each week, Thurmond said. An additional 3,500 have been losing federal benefits weekly ever since the U.S. Senate got bogged down earlier this month on the benefits bill.

Mitchell, fortunately, got a job last December. But for the previous 18 months, he depended on the benefits to help cover the mortgage and college payments for his two kids.

“I depleted my savings and tapped into my 401(k) and retirement until they were exhausted,” said Mitchell, 55, who lives in Stockbridge. “I survived on my unemployment insurance.”

U.S. Rep. John Linder, a Lawrenceville Republican, said repeated extensions of jobless benefits let people delay finding a job.

"Studies show that people want to get a job when their benefits run out ... not before," he said. Benefits “should be 26 weeks, and that’s it.”

But most Democrats, and many economists, scoff at the notion that people avoid work to stay on the dole. Besides, to receive benefits, the unemployed must actively search for work.

"Ninety-nine percent of people prefer having a full-time, reliable job,” said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat. “We need to find a way to pay for [an extension]. This is an emergency.”

The House passed a jobless extension weeks ago.

The Senate failed to follow suit Thursday.

But Republicans' deficit-staunching priorities are shortsighted, said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, a liberal Washington think tank.

“Putting money into the hands of the long-term unemployed is one of the most effective job creators because they spend that money immediately, and it multiplies through the economy and generates jobs,” she said. “It’s just about the best economic stimulus we have.”