SALON

Friday, May 8, 2009 4:19 PM UTC

Obama on unemployment: Let’s end “senseless rules”

The president vows to remove restrictions that make it difficult for the newly unemployed to seek job training and education.

By

Topics: U.S. Economy, Globalization, How the World Works, Unemployment,

Obama on unemployment: Let's end

With the April unemployment numbers providing a bleak context, President Obama announced at a Friday morning press conference new measures to help unemployed workers get access to educational opportunities.

Currently, he observed, workers in many states who want to take advantage of job training programs or federal financial assistance for education have to give up their unemployment benefits. Obama called this a “senseless” rule and vowed to change it. From now on, newly unemployed workers should be able to keep their benefits, and be able to get such help as that offered by Pell grants.

The initiative fit neatly into Obama’s consistent emphasis on improving education. “Someone who doesn’t have a college degree is more than twice as likely to be unemployed,” he said, calling for every American to commit to at least one year of higher education after high school. “Education,” the president said, “is the single best bet we can make, not just for individuals but for the nation.”

Obama attempted to put a mildly positive spin on the new unemployment numbers, calling the fact that April registered the lowest monthly loss in six months “somewhat encouraging but still a sobering toll.” He suggested that “the gears of our economic engine appear to be slowly turning again,” and that “step by step we are beginning to make progress.”

He also announced a snazzy looking new Web site, Opportunity.gov, that aims to connect unemployed workers with the resources they need to get ahead. “Applying for financial aid and finding education and training are not difficult,” enthuses the Web site, along with a big “Get Started” button.

How much of an impact will the new changes make in the short term? Certainly not enough to make more than a small incremental improvement in the labor situation. But Obama is selling this first step as just a prelude to a fundamental rethinking and reorganization of how the government approaches job training and education for newly unemployed workers, and he argued on the campaign trail and during the runup to passing the stimulus bill for a greatly expanded Pell Grant program. If he follows through on his proposals and promises, he stands a chance of helping Americans deal with the competitive challenges posed by globalization, technological progress, and an economic contraction. Not a bad day of work.

Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21. More Andrew Leonard.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 20 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Journalists file suit against Manning's trial secrecy: Plaintiffs including Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange demand press, public access to trial and documents
151 points152 points | comment
vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
127 points128 points | 91 comments
vote
Report: Nearly a quarter of Americans struggle to afford food
124 points125 points | 12 comments
vote
Kaitlyn Hunt refuses plea offer, will go to court over high school relationship - The 18-year-old rejected a deal that would have labeled her a sex offender and placed her under house arrest
114 points115 points | 33 comments
vote
Ted Cruz against the world - How the Junior Senator is igniting the GOP civil war
74 points75 points | 19 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations