Interesting statistic, but does it applied to the current recession

Posted By on September 1, 2010

Hopefully listening, reading and keeping an open mind to a variety of opinions — Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and even Socialists — will give me informed opinions when I head to the polls to elect a representative.

Last night an interesting statistic was toss out by self-professed Libertarian John Stossel – it was a statistic that I needed to verify. Although personally I’ve already hypothesized that extending unemployment benefits does dissuade some people from aggressively finding jobs, I was surprise to hear the high numbers. The “one-third” comment Stossel made came from a 2003 Pennsylvania study which concluded that “28% of unemployed workers found work within a week of their unemployment benefits running out.” *

Disturbing considering unemployment benefits were just extended again … I do wonder if these statistics are realistic in today’s economy?

* Stepan Jurajda and Frederick J Tannery, “Unemployment Duration and Extended Unemployment Benefits in Local Labor Markets,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 56, No. 2 (January 2003), pp. 332–334.

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