FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  May 15, 2006
CONTACT:  Maurice Emsellem (510-604-1209)

Tens of thousands of evacuees left jobless as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita face the end of their Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) unless Congress extends the program before leaving town on May 26th for the Memorial Day recess.  The FEMA-funded program of disaster jobless benefits, now serving 83,514 Gulf Coast families, is scheduled to end on June 3rd for those unemployed by Hurricane Katrina and on June 24th for those unemployed by Hurricane Rita.

The Gulf Coast families left jobless by the hurricanes, especially those evacuated far from home, continue to face major challenges locating permanent housing and finding new work.  Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that joblessness for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina remained high in April, with 15% of Hurricane Katrina evacuees still unemployed eight months after the storms. More than one in four (26%) of those who have been unable to return home since the hurricane remain unemployed according to the special federal survey. 

“The economic devastation caused by the Gulf Coast hurricanes is still contributing to sustained  high levels of unemployment, as more than 80,000 of families still struggle to find work and permanent housing with the help of their limited jobless benefits,” stated Maurice Emsellem, Public Policy Director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP).  “Given the unprecedented and  continuing hardship, now is not the time for the American people to abandon the Gulf Coast families left jobless by the storms.  Without delay, Congress should extend the federal program of jobless benefits before leaving town for the holiday,” said Mr. Emsellem.

In early March, Congress extended the DUA program by 13 weeks, providing a maximum of 39 weeks of benefits.  DUA is now the only regular source of income for those who lost their jobs because of the Gulf Coast hurricanes, including more than 40,000 workers in Louisiana ran out of their 26 weeks of regular state jobless benefits.  The weekly DUA benefits are also extremely limited, paying a maximum of just $258 in Louisiana and $210 in Mississippi, far from what’s needed to cover the major increase in housing and living expenses in New Orleans and communities located far from home.

More detailed figures prepared by NELP document the unemployment situation in the Gulf Coast and the numbers collecting DUA (click here).  The latest figures, analyzed by NELP, show:
• 70,967 families from Louisiana are now collecting DUA, which will end in June.
• 60% of Louisiana workers collecting DUA (42,307) are now living out-of-state.
• 26,652 workers live in Texas while collecting Louisiana jobless benefits (as of May 6th).
• 11,718 families from Mississippi are now collecting DUA, which will end in June.

NELP’s “know-your-rights” guide to the extension of the DUA program is also available on-line at http://www.nelp.org/ui/initiatives/hurricane_katrina_jobless/dua_extension.cfm.

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The National Employment Law Project is a non-profit research and worker advocacy organization based in New York City.