Jobless benefit extension does nothing for 99ers

Those are the folks who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment coverage (26 from the state and 73 from the feds). In California, there are at least 300,000 99ers who will get no relief from the proposed 13-month job extension. Some lawmakers in Congress have pushed for an extension beyond the 99 weeks, but there's virtually no chance of that happening. So what happens to the jobless who have hit the 99-week cap? Good question. From Real Time Economics:

"Long-term unemployment not only imposes extreme hardship on jobless people and their families, but, by eroding these workers' skills and weakening their attachment to the labor force, it may also convert what might otherwise be temporary cyclical unemployment into much more intractable long-term structural unemployment," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech in Germany in November. Even though the economy is adding jobs again, those who have been unemployed the longest aren't likely to be among the first hired. Turning to disability benefits is a common path for those who become disheartened by the job search. Once they start receiving those benefits, they're likely to stay on the program for the rest of their lives -- which comes with a hefty price tag.