'60 Minutes' reminds us the real unemployment rate is over 17%
Rick Moran
They are calling themselves "The 99'ers" - people who have exhausted their unemployment compensation and still can't find a job.
CBS profiles this group of out of work Americans between the ages of 40-65 and shows why the stated unemployment rate of 9.5% is a mirage:
The economic jam we're in has topped even the Great Depression in one respect: never have we had a recession this deep with a recovery this flat. Unemployment has been at nine and a half percent or above for 14 months.
Congress did something that it has never done before - it extended unemployment benefits to 99 weeks. That cost more than $100 billion, a huge expense for a government in debt.
But now, for many Americans 99 weeks have passed and there's still no job in sight. Some have taken to calling themselves the "99ers."
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