Business

US Congress to extend jobless aid
by Zuzana Zelenakova

Despite the claims that the recession is over there is great amount of Americans that struggle with its consequences and with their day to day lives. That is why the House is planning to pass an extension of unemployment insurance benefits which would enable more than 300,000 Americans to receive unemployment checks also after September. The bill was offered by Republican Jim McDermott and if it passes it will provide 13-week extension to one of the provisions from the $787 billion stimulus package. As McDermott says, the reason why he took action were people from all over the US that "have been calling my office to tell me they still cannot find work a year or more after ! becoming unemployed, and they need some additional help to keep their heads above water." The unemployment rates reach record heights in USA. Despite the predictions that the jobless rate will stop at 8 percent, it reached 9.7 percent in August, something that hasn´t been seen in 26 years. According to the White House economists it is most likely for it to remain somewhere around this level into the next year and not to return to pre-recession less than 6 percent sooner than 2014. Also another stimulus provisions is on a good way to get extended - the $8,000 tax credit to first-time homebuyers. The tax credit is scheduled to last till the end of November. Its extension, by six months as proposed, is supported by senators from both parties as it has helped increase home sales and thus boost whole housing market. “As we are fighting to get our economy back on track, we cannot afford to let lapse an important tool that has had a positive effect on the housing market! ,” said Senator Ben Cardin, one of those who have sponso! red the bill.

related story (sgx15422): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090921/ap_on_go_co/us_unemploym...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

posted by Blog TechSource @ 1:35 PM