Nearly 650,000 Are Long-
Term Jobless
12/14/09
Californians who lose their jobs continue to be out of work longer, with 646,000 in October unemployed more than six months, according to the state Employ- ment Development Department data.
Typically the newly unemployed- those out of work less than five weeks- make up the largest pool of the jobless, but the length and depth of this recession has turned the usual experience upside down.
A year ago in October, 32.6% of the 1.2 million Californians who were unemployed had been out of work less than five weeks, the most of any category based on duration.
Now the group is those who have been unemployed 27 or more weeks - 32.5% of just under 2 million total without jobs. (Twenty-seven weeks is important because regular unemployment benefits end after 26 weeks and the unemployed must rely Congressional approval of extensions beyond that.)
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