Unemployment at Record High | Payday Loans Can't Curb Joblessness

Payday loans help — when payday is coming

Payday loans can help families that run into financial emergencies, but unfortunately that can’t keep employers from laying off workers.

In fact, if legislators keep making laws that run payday loans companies out of business, even more workers will be out of a job.

Almost 5 million unemployed

The first week in February, the number of people remaining on the benefits rolls after drawing an initial week of aid was 4.99 million. That’s the highest number on record since the data started being collected in 1967.

New unemployment claims held steady at 627,000 the second week in February, nearing a 26-year high. Luckily most unemployed workers can get by without payday loans because most states pay claims weekly.

Grim comparison

Last year at this time, 2.77 million people in the United States were continuing to collect unemployment benefits.  And the 5 million who are continuing to file jobless claims don’t even tell the whole story.

An additional 1.5 million people are receiving benefits under an extended unemployment compensation program approved by Congress last year, bringing the total number of people receiving unemployment benefits to 6.54 million for the week ending Feb. 7, according to the Associated Press.

The economic stimulus package approved this week also further extends unemployment benefits.

Dreary forecast

The U.S. Federal Reserve  Wednesday updated its economic forecast. Basically, the Fed said things will be worse than they thought. The report says the economy will contract even more in 2009 and unemployment will keep going up. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Unemployment at Record High | Payday Loans Can't Curb Joblessness"