400,000 per month will lose all support as unemployment benefits end…

The unemployment compensation extend and pretend phase may be coming to a close, as the current round of benefits will run out for many unless Washington once again adds to the number of weeks people can qualify for compensation.That’s extend and pretend, as in extend how long people can collect benefits and pretend hours of work needn’t be reduced.

From Goldman Sachs via Zero Hedge:

… an increasing number of individuals will face an end to benefits over the next several months even with continued renewal of the current emergency benefits by Congress.  More than 400,000 jobless workers could run down their federal benefits each month over the next several months, even assuming that Congress continues to renew the expanded benefit period now in place.  It is possible that Congress could lengthen the maximum benefit period yet again, but the political climate is not as conducive to additional expansions as it had been last year.  The result is likely to be a greater share of unemployed workers not receiving unemployment compensation.

The American safety net assumes short, sharp recessions in which employment rapidly returns to prerecession levels. The last two recessions (1990 and 2001) did not fit this pattern, and the present one is similar, has lasted far longer, and has seen job losses more severe than the previous two without employment finding a bottom.