Jobless and stretching lifelines on LI

More than 43,000 Long Islanders have exhausted their extended unemployment benefits in the past 17 months, increasing pressure on the strained local economy and social service agencies facing reduced budgets.

That number is likely to grow as some of the 67,400 still receiving unemployment checks run out of benefits before landing jobs. Statewide, more than 302,820 people have received their final checks since March 2010, when extended benefits began expiring for some, and about 486,000 are still getting them, figures show.

The extended government assistance is ending as the stock market slides and the economy shows more signs of slowing, the unemployment rate rises and many fear another recession after Washington's protracted debt debate.

Two weeks ago, the state Department of Labor reported that Long Island had 6,800 fewer jobs in June compared with the same time last year. And the Island's unemployment rate rose in June to 7.1 percent from 6.7 percent in May while the national number hit 9.2 percent.

The rising number of jobless Long Islanders with little spending money hurts the region's economy, brings down wages and ratchets up fears for house hunters, which all leads to less revenue for government coffers, said John Lonski, chief economist at Moody's Capital Markets Group. He said he saw much of that happen during and after the severe recession of the early 1980s.

“The fact that there are so many underscores how stagnant the current economy is,“ Lonski said. “They're not spending anything, so sales tax revenues are less. Just as foreclosures and a chronic, excess supply of unsold homes bring down home prices, we would expect that persistently high unemployment would eventually put downward pressure on wages. People say, 'Great, mortgage rates are low. It looks like I could afford this mortgage, but how do I know my income will be sufficient several years from now?' " 

Longer jobless periods?

Americans looking for jobs were out of work an average of 33 weeks last year, the longest period since the federal government began compiling figures in 1948. Jobless benefits usually run for 26 weeks but were extended beginning in 2008 to a maximum of 99 weeks. The maximum weekly check in New York State is $405. In June, the state's average weekly benefit was $302.24.

Individuals who have exhausted their long-term benefits are not tracked, so government agencies are unsure what happens to them after their benefits expire. Some may have since found work, quit searching or left the state. Others may have turned to government assistance or nonprofits for help.

“We know that significant numbers of people are leaving the system, and we also know from our colleagues at the department of social services and other social services agencies that their caseloads have gone up,“ said Mark Grossman, who is state Labor Commissioner Colleen Gardner's Long Island representative.

Daniel Mullens, of Merrick, who was laid off from his job as a computer technologist in 2008 and unable to find work, got his last unemployment check in November. Mullens, 48, has gone to his church for food and chased $7-an-hour jobs, such as one involving sitting and talking with senior citizens. He has begun receiving food stamps.

Employers hire the “young and cheap,“ he said. “That's based on their budgets, and it's totally understandable.“

More strain on aid services

Last year, Suffolk and Nassau counties had the state's biggest annual increases in key social services areas. Nassau spent $94 million in food stamps, a 34 percent jump, the highest in the state. Suffolk was second with a 33 percent increase to $146.7 million. The increase in the number of recipients was similarly high. Suffolk's program served 83,105 recipients, a 32 percent hike, while Nassau's 50,644 total was 31 percent higher than the year before. A Suffolk record was broken this March when Medicaid applications hit 7,038.

Gregory Blass, Suffolk's social services commissioner, said he fears the $273 million budgeted by the county for its share of services might not last to the end of the year. The increased strain on the social service budget is occurring when the counties are under pressure to cut spending overall.

The long-term jobless were the “last straw,“ Blass said. “We are talking about a population that is normally employed, free of the need for government programs.“

Prolonged effects eyed

The long-term unemployed are “a big enough group that it represents a sizable chunk of lost productivity,“ said labor economist Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “You take a big earnings hit for the next job that you get, and that earnings decline can actually last for something on the order of 15 to 20 years.“

Shierholz also cited studies showing that the chaos and stress of being jobless for years has a far-reaching impact on children, from lowering their test scores to cutting their earning power as adults.

Newsday staff writer Keiko Morris contributed to this story.
 

3 faces of LIers seeking jobs

Francis Tynan, 73, Huntington

 Last Job: Purchasing agent for a textile firm.

Last unemployment check: January 2010

Sacrifices: Buys only what she needs at the moment.

Current plan: Continue searching for jobs and networking.

Her story: Until February 2009, she caught the 5:08 a.m. LIRR train to Manhattan to get to the office early and deal with the company's European business partners.

“When you've worked in a high-pressure environment — and I loved that, loved the challenge — being at home all the time does a number on you,“ she said.

She has been relying on her savings and her IRA, money that was supposed to support her later in life, not now.

“My horror is that having to live off of  what I have now, I will have nothing when I have to stop working,“ she said. “I fear being homeless or being put into a facility that just lets one lay there and die.“

Employers don't give her a chance because of her age, she said. Still, she presses on: “I want to work, and I want this country to be what it was.“

 Mario Flores,  68, Brentwood

 Last job: Factory worker

Last unemployment check: October 2010

Sacrifices: Buying the cheapest food and a phone card once a month, instead of weekly, to call his children in El Salvador.

Current plan: Keep asking friends if they know of jobs.

His story: Flores came here from El Salvador in 1980. He lost his job in 2008 when his employer moved to Arizona.

So many times Flores has chased job leads only to be told that the positions have been filled. He and his wife, Maria Bonilla, a recent immigrant, are looking for factory jobs or other work where they can speak Spanish. But often, employers want someone from the inside to be a reference. “I don't know anybody who works in a factory,“ he said.

He's drawing on his pension to pay for utilities, insurance and more. He wants to work to save up for his own funeral expenses and help his adult children, some of whom are still in El Salvador, where jobs are even more scarce.

George Ellers, 56, Bay Shore

 Last full-time job: Entenmann's for 30 years. Took a buyout in 2008

Last unemployment check: April 2010

Sacrifices: Bikes more, tries to keep lights off at night to cut back on electricity use.

Current plan: Got part-time job last month selling marine equipment but will look for more work to boost income

His story: Ellers left his job at Entenmann's in 2008 when the company was offering financial packages to workers as it downsized. He thought he'd find another job fairly quickly and intended to work until he was 62.

He has trained to become a school bus driver and now wants to get a hazardous materials license to deliver car batteries.

Ellers receives a pension, which pays his monthly mortgage bills, and he has enough savings for another few years.

“I was definitely lucky,“ he said. “They offered me money to leave and unemployment for a year. I got unemployment for two years.“

Profiles compiled by Keiko Morris and Ellen Yan