State of the Union, Unemployment, Union Membership, and Banking Options

The Economic Policy Institute highlights the fact that in 2007, 1.2 million people were unemployed for longer than six months, with Michigan having the highest long-term unemployment rate of 1.7%. EPI emphasizes why extending unemployment is so critical in both helping these families and strengthening the economy in states suffering the highest job loss.

In What We're In For: Projected Economic Impacts of the Next Recession, a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research argues that even a mild recession would add 3.2 million workers to the unemployment lines by 2010, while a severe recession would add 5.8 million unemployed.

Union membership increased as a percentage of the working population for the first time in twenty-five years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with unions adding 310,000 members last year.

Moderate and lower-income households pay over $8 billion in fees to non-bank check cashing and short-term loan providers, a costly loss to such families that could be avoided if they were directed into lower cost banking options, according to a new report by the Brookings Institution. In fact, the savings to a full-time worker without a checking account could be as much as $40,000 during his or her career, which if directed into savings and investments would add up to $360,000 over a career.