Extended Unemployment Checks Could Run Out for 17,600 in Hawaii [View all]

By Nanea Kalani 12/15/2011

Nanea Kalani/Civil Beat

An estimated 17,600 Hawaii residents receiving unemployment checks would see their benefits exhausted in 2012 unless Congress agrees to re-extend benefits for them before the end of this year.

The length of time Americans can draw unemployment benefits is set to revert back to the pre-recession level of 26 weeks, or six months, at year's end.

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Hawaii's unemployment rate peaked in June 2009 at 7 percent. The rate in October was at 6.5 percent, and stayed below 6.5 percent in all of 2010. The proposal would extend both programs so Hawaii's unemployed would benefit even though the unemployment rate is less than the threshold 8 percent.

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A total of 51,159 people in Hawaii have drawn emergency benefits as of October 2011, according to the report. Nationally, 17.9 million people have received the lengthened beenfits since 2008.

http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2011/12/15/14240-extended-unemployment-checks-could-run-out-for-17600-in-hawaii/

Combined with the high cost of living this will just be brutal and will likely increase the Hawaii Diaspora. My best guess is that over the last 3-4 decades over 200,000 to 300,000 people have left Hawaii that would not have otherwise because of the lack of good paying jobs, high cost of housing, and lack of opportunity to advance. My neighbor in SoCal is from Hawaii too and I often see people with Hawaii decals/bumper stickers here; the upside is that there is an L&L, another plate lunch joint, and a Hawaiian restaurant within 3 miles. Do you know people who have left for this reason?