Economist’s View summarizes new research from the OECD that finds that the U.S. has the widest income distribution of any advanced economy. The bottom line: rich Americans are better off than their counterparts in almost every country, lower-income Americans worse off.
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For the benefit week ending on August 28th, 11,971 North Carolinians filed initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits, and 122,359 individuals applied for state-funded continuing benefits. Compared to the prior week, there were more initial and fewer continuing claims. These figures come from new data released by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Averaging new and continuing claims over a four-week period — a process that helps adjust for seasonal fluctuations and better illustrates trends — shows that an average of 12,250 initial claims were filed over the previous four weeks, along with an average of 127,596 continuing claims. Compared to the previous four-week period, there were fewer initial and continuing claims.
One year ago, the four-week average for initial claims stood at 17,654 and the four-week average of continuing claims equaled 194,523.
While the number of claims has dropped over the past year, so has covered employment. Last week, covered employment totaled 3.8 million, down from 4 million a year ago.
The graph (right) shows the changes in unemployment insurance claims (as a share of covered employment) in North Carolina since the recession’s start in December 2007.
Both new and continuing claims appear to have peaked for this business cycle, and the four-week averages of new and continuing claims have fallen considerably. Yet continuing claims remain at an elevated level, which suggests that unemployed individuals are finding it difficult to find new positions.
Also, little change has occurred within recent months. Since April 2010, the four-week average of initial claims consistently has ranged between 13,987 and 12,250.
In a recent online commentary drawn from their forthcoming book, scholars Irwin Garfinkel and Timothy Smeeding correct several myths about the size and scope of America’s social welfare state. From the commentary …
Myth: In the U.S., most welfare state benefits go to the poor and near-poor.
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Fact: The way that benefits for families with children are distributed in the United States is U-shaped, wherein the poorest and richest get the largest benefits, and the working poor, lower middle class, and even the middle class fall between the cracks.
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Health care and housing are the most perversely distributed because the U.S has separate programs for aiding different income groups—with the poor receiving means-tested benefits from safety net programs and the middle and upper classes receiving employer provided and/or tax related benefits.
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The richest fifth of the population gets health benefits that are almost twice that of the poorest fifth. The richest fifth receives housing subsidies – through the mortgage interest tax deduction – that are nearly four times the housing assistance provided to the poorest fifth and about eight times the assistance provided to the lower middle and the middle class.
Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:
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