Tim Fernholz argues that aid to states could help the unemployment problem:
It’s been the same story for months: Unemployment is increasing, even if the rate at which it rises has been slowing. While 9.8 percent of the labor force is actually unemployed, some 17 percent are suffering — they’re out of a job, or they’ve given up on finding a new one after months of looking, or maybe they are forced to work part-time instead of being fully employed.
It’s not that the stimulus bill — the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — isn’t working. It is, in fact, working quite well to boost the economy, keep people at work, and reinforce the social safety net that millions of Americans rely on, especially through its extension of unemployment benefits. The Obama administration’s decision to champion this bill at the height of its post-election honeymoon should be applauded. Now, the administration needs to extend the best parts of the current stimulus and craft a new package of aid to the states.
