Children's Defense Fund

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February 26, 2004  
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CONGRESS REJECTS BENEFITS FOR LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED, AS NEW DATA SHOW LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT SOARED FOR WORKERS WITH CHILDREN

Washington, D.C. - The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) today criticized Senators who voted to defeat an extension of long-term unemployment insurance benefits. The amendment would have reinstated the thirteen-week federal unemployment insurance program, extended it for six months, and ensured that "high unemployment" states continue to be covered.

"The timing of this could not be worse," said Deborah Cutler Ortiz, CDF's Family Income Director. "We know from new 2003 data that parents, like other workers, are sinking deeper and deeper into long-term unemployment. Without this extension parents will be struggling to meet their children's basic needs."

New estimates from the Children's Defense Fund show that the crisis of extended unemployment affects hundreds of thousands of working parents with children.

The annual average number of parents unemployed long term (longer than six months) soared to 583,000 in 2003. This is up from 465,000 parents in 2002 and nearly triple the level in 2000 (200,000 parents).

The data are from a CDF analysis of a monthly government survey of households nationwide; the same data used in the Labor Department's unemployment statistics.

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The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds.

 

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