Community Corner

DeLauro Hears Plight of Jobless as Fed Unemployment Benefits Set to End

The Democratic Congresswoman spoke with five men struggling with supporting their families after losing their jobs.

By Patch Local Editor Cassandra Day.

Felix Pagan is among about 26,000 people in Connecticut whose federal emergency unemployment benefits are due to be cut on Dec. 28.

He met with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, Middletown Mayor Dan Drew, Bill Villano of the CT Workforce Alliance and several others — like Rich Faraci of Portland and Mike Carlo of Meriden — experiencing the loss of financial support for a roundtable discussion on the matter Wednesday at city hall.

Pagan, a newlywed with a one-year-old son, says he's been receiving benefits since he was laid off from his job at a car dealership, but now that his check has been cut by 50 percent he's had to make some tough decisions.

"We've had to postpone Christmas, postpone my son's birthday that's coming up in January," said Pagan, who's taking engineering and technology classes through the CT Workforce Alliance in Middletown.

Drew commended DeLauro for her work in Washington trying to keep jobs in Connecticut, which, he says, is "critically important."

"We've gotten to the point in Congress now, where it seems like we're racing through the barn," Drew said. "We have to do better for working people. We have to do better as we work through to help the people."

Austerity measures, Drew said, like allowing these benefits to expire, "are killing our economy."

DeLauro said she has repeatedly called for an extension of benefits to be included in the budget deal passed by the House of Representatives last week.

“The fact that the House of Representatives went home for the holidays with such critical work undone is unconscionable,” DeLauro said. “Millions of long-term unemployed are about to see a vital lifeline cut off, right in the middle of the holiday season. Congress’s top priority should be restoring opportunity and the promise of a better future for all Americans. So why are we forcing people who are already struggling to get by into a more desperate state?”

Federal emergency unemployment compensation benefits are set to expire on Dec. 28. About 26,000 people in Connecticut — and 1.3 million nationally — will lose benefits on that day. Another 1.9 million across the nation will suffer the same fate by June, about 28,700 of them in Connecticut. By the end of 2014, 85,100 people in Connecticut will have lost benefits.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently says that despite the economy’s progress since 2008, there are still 1.3 million fewer jobs available. About 4 million Americans have been looking for work for more than six months.

It's folks like Thomas Knowlton of Wallingford, who says his difficulty in finding employment is his age. Before he was let go, Knowlton, who has four adult children, ran fast food restaurants. "Now they're bringing in 25-year-olds at $20,000," he says.

Lack of funds have forced him to dip into his 401k retirement fund. And he's embarrassed when his children ask him if he needs help.

An Armed Services veteran, Knowlton told those gathered he fortunately qualifies for classes at Middlesex Community College — and he's hoping to reinvent himself as a broadcast journalist. 

Knowlton had a question for DeLauro. "After the entire country is down to $4 an hour, what are we going to do then? They don't seem to care."

DeLauro replied by saying the outsourcing of jobs and technology as corporations seek to cut costs has had a dreadful effect on the country's economy.

"I'm happy to use the tax code to provide incentives to put people to work here," DeLauro said, but because labor is cheaper in Mexico, Vietnam and places like Malaysia, "we are driving down the quality of life for people here in the United States."

Pagan hasn't given up hope. While home during the day watching his infant son, he also applies for jobs. "It's stressful, especially on a new marriage," said Pagan, who used to be able to walk right into a place and apply for a job.

"Nowadays, it's online, they don't know who you are. It doesn't matter if you have a high school degree or college, especially the veteran — everybody in between has been affected by this."

The Workforce Alliance offers free workshops on interviewing, managing time and stress, and filling out job applications, a computer lab, office supplies, career counseling, referrals at CTWorks Career Centers in 20 locations throughout the state, including Middletown.

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