INSTITUTE INDEX: Killing jobs for political sport
Date that Republicans used Senate rules to block an extension of the TANF Emergency Fund that directly subsidized jobs for the unemployed in government, nonprofits and small businesses: 9/28/2010
Date that the program expired: 9/30/2010
Amount of money the program had given states for job creation: $1 billion
Number of jobs the program created nationwide for unemployed parents and youth: nearly 250,000
Number of jobs the program created in the South*: 86,827
Level to which the unemployment rate in rural Perry County, Tenn. soared to after a local auto parts plant closed: 27 percent
Number of jobs that the emergency program funded in Perry County as part of a broader job-creation initiative: 220
Amount by which the initiative reduced Perry County's unemployment rate: 1/3
Number of employees hired by private companies in Mississippi through an innovative program funded by the emergency program: nearly 3,200
Unemployment rate nationally: 9.6 percent
Unemployment rate across the South: 9.3 percent
Unemployment rate in Wyoming, the home state of Republican Sen. Mike Enzi who led the effort to kill the emergency fund: 6.8 percent
Date on which Enzi called the fund an "important social safety net program": 9/28/2010
Date on which he said it was "not sound welfare policy": 9/29/2010
Number of consecutive months for which the national unemployment rate has topped 9 percent: 15
Number of Americans who are officially unemployed: about 15 million
Number of Americans working part-time but seeking full-time work: almost 9 million
Percent of the unemployed who've been out of work for more than six months: 42
Percent that have been jobless for more than six months: 23
* Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
(Click on figure to go to source.)
Date that the program expired: 9/30/2010
Amount of money the program had given states for job creation: $1 billion
Number of jobs the program created nationwide for unemployed parents and youth: nearly 250,000
Number of jobs the program created in the South*: 86,827
Level to which the unemployment rate in rural Perry County, Tenn. soared to after a local auto parts plant closed: 27 percent
Number of jobs that the emergency program funded in Perry County as part of a broader job-creation initiative: 220
Amount by which the initiative reduced Perry County's unemployment rate: 1/3
Number of employees hired by private companies in Mississippi through an innovative program funded by the emergency program: nearly 3,200
Unemployment rate nationally: 9.6 percent
Unemployment rate across the South: 9.3 percent
Unemployment rate in Wyoming, the home state of Republican Sen. Mike Enzi who led the effort to kill the emergency fund: 6.8 percent
Date on which Enzi called the fund an "important social safety net program": 9/28/2010
Date on which he said it was "not sound welfare policy": 9/29/2010
Number of consecutive months for which the national unemployment rate has topped 9 percent: 15
Number of Americans who are officially unemployed: about 15 million
Number of Americans working part-time but seeking full-time work: almost 9 million
Percent of the unemployed who've been out of work for more than six months: 42
Percent that have been jobless for more than six months: 23
* Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
(Click on figure to go to source.)
Tags
Sue Sturgis
Sue is the editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.