Houston job losses hit 1987 level (State rushes to get fed cash to extend benefits)Houston-area job losses continued to climb in June, marking the largest reduction in positions year-over-year since March 1987.
As more people continue to lose their jobs, the Texas Workforce Commission is rushing to ensure those in danger of exhausting jobless benefits get a 13-week federally financed extension as quickly as possible.
The Houston area lost 69,600 jobs between June 2008 and June 2009, a 2.7 percent decline, - The area's unemployment rate shot up to 8 percent during the same period.
In March 1987, the Houston area lost 82,600 jobs over the previous year.
One economist expects a local recovery is still far off.
Disappointing figures on sales figures, jobs and spending by managers don't seem to be abating-
While Houston seemed immune to national economic woes at first, the global recession put downward pressure on commodity prices and in turn weighed on the local economy-
As the unemployment rate has increased, the number of Houstonians applying for state benefits has soared.
More than 15,000 Texans by the end of July will have been on unemployment for 59 weeks, exhausting their last emergency extension of benefits before an extra federally-financed 13 weeks kicks in.
The agency estimates as many as a total 100,000 people could exhaust their benefits by November -
Texas Workforce Commission staff had said it could take months for the additional checks to be put in people's hands because of the need to program complex federal requirements into computers. ‘Not going to be months'
Pauken said Friday he hadn't been made aware until this week of the possibility that there could be a months-long gap between the time people exhaust their benefits and get the additional help.
Advocates for labor and for people with lower incomes had expressed frustration - people at risk of foreclosure or eviction.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6534055.html
