House okays higher unemployment benefits

On Friday, the State House passed a bill to give workers higher unemployment benefits. Soon, the Senate is expected to follow suit:

Those temporary increases would take effect in May, the earliest the state Employment Security Department can implement, said Rep. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, chairman of the House Commerce and Labor Committee and prime sponsor of House Bill 1906. They would remain in place until Jan. 3, 2010, then drop back down to the regular range.

Although the higher benefits are just temporary, it is good to see the state government stepping up to help its people in these harsh economic times, trying to salvage our deteriorating economic security.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has released a chart which clearly shows that the job losses in the current recession are far serious than previous recessions:


This crisis is simply far more serious, as the Speaker's office says:

Over the last 13 months, our economy has lost a total of 3.6 million jobs – and continuing job losses in the next few months are predicted.

By comparison, we lost a total of 1.6 million jobs in the 1990-1991 recession, before the economy began turning around and jobs began increasing; and we lost a total of 2.7 million jobs in the 2001 recession, before the economy began turning around and jobs began increasing.

All the more reason why we need to pass a stimulus package that rebuilds decaying public infrastructure and creates jobs. Higher unemployment benefits are helpful, but they're just a bandage. To revitalize our economy, we need to invest our common wealth in the common good.