This article deals with the findings of a newly-released survey, "The Disposable Worker: Living in a Job-Loss Economy." The study chose 1,015 working-age adults at random and found that one in five, or 18%, of them had been laid off during the 2000-2003 time period. The survey also revealed that two-thirds of the workers laid off received no severance pay or other compensation from their employer. Less than half received unemployment insurance.
(The article doesn't explain why less than half of those laid off received unemployment insurance. Surely the rules still say that anyone who's laid off is entitled to benefits? )
Quotes:
"There's neither private sector nor government support that's going to most people," said Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, which conducted the study.
Barely one-fourth of those surveyed said their employer extended their health benefits after they were laid off, and less than one-fifth said they received help finding a job, career counseling or skills training.
Despite the National Bureau of Economic Research's July 17 proclamation that the recession ended in November 2001 — because gross domestic product began rising then — Van Horn says he and plenty of other economists disagree.
"There are still a lot of people unemployed," he said. "If you're a typical person and not an economist, you don't really care about the GDP."
more . . .
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030728/ap_on_bi_ge/displaced_workers