US Unemployment Benefits in International Context

"You spent all the money - now you're taking our jobs." That is probably not how the Office for National Statistics would like younger workers to react to a press release they put out today, highlighting the rise in the number of over-65s who are still in work. But it's the conclusion that some unemployed school-leavers might draw.

An important point from David Leonhardt:

I assume the entire progressive blogosphere will agree with me that trying to pursue a more “bipartisan tone” in Washington is a substantively foolish idea for the White House to pursue. But the fact of the matter is that I think the smart thing for any President to say is that he wants to pursue a bipartisan tone, so it’s hard to know what to make of that remark.

Josh Bivens has an enlightening item up on the EPI website illustrating the bleak state of the economy and the helpful role being played by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

Lane Kenworthy thinks there is much more to be done.  For instance: Early education (preschool, child care), beginning at age one, is a very good idea. Not all states have full-day kindergarten; few have preschool for four-year-olds; none have much in the way of public funding of education for kids age one to three.

An importance subtext in a lot of education policy debates is that some people feel that efforts to improve the performance of schools is a distraction from the more important job of giving poor people more economic resources. As Kevin Welner of the University of Colorado puts the critique, those who complain about poor school performance “act as enablers for those who dismiss the need to address issues of concentrated poverty.”