Bad News for Unemployed in California

There is more bad news for those who are unemployed in the state of California. Brenda Callahan-Johnson knows and realizes that the budget for anti-poverty has been stretched beyond belief and cannot be stretched anymore. This means that within the next few days, those who have been chronically unemployed in the state of California will no longer receive unemployment benefits. There has been a recent decline in the jobless rate for the state of California, to 11 percent, which is still double digits and not good. What is even worse is that while this is the lowest jobless rate that the state has seen within the past three years, it has mostly declined because long-term unemployment has been cut off for hundreds and thousands of chronic unemployed individuals.

And in certain areas, such as Merced County, the unemployment rates are much higher and are not doing so well at all. In fact, the unemployment rate in this county is over 20 percent, which makes it hard for many to believe that any sort of recovery is taking place for the economy. Callahan-Johnson is responsible for running the Merced County Community Action Agency and is well aware that this a huge problem, with the budget being cut and so many people still being unemployed in this particular community. Callahan-Johnson points out that the people of Merced County are having a hard time finding employment because there are simply no jobs available. It is definitely tough for the community and its residents.

And, with the cut offs taking place, this is yet another blow to the community and other communities in California that are suffering as well. In fact, the state of California currently has the highest amount of people who are now living in what is considered to be poverty. Tons of homes in the area have been foreclosed. It is scary to think that more than 93,000 individuals are going to lose their unemployment benefits without having been able to find employment at all.

The co-director for the National Employment Law Project, Maurice Emsellem, says that this is definitely a difficult cut off to cope with. Emsellem says that this will take a huge toll on the citizens of California and that it is going to have a negative impact on everyone. One of the people who will be negatively impacted is Tina Dumaguing, who has been having trouble finding a job. She was once employed as a technician and kept her position for 11 years until she became unemployed, 99 weeks ago. Her benefits expired during the month of April. She is currently facing foreclosure for her home, along with notices that things will be shut off inside her home. She has had to apply for food stamps, which is something she never did before. And, she is not the only one. Tons of people in the area have been searching for work but to no avail and are stuck depending on government resources in the meantime.