Employment for Katrina Victims is Still Elusive

The headlines from today's Labor Department report hail big improvements in the labor market. the overall the employment situation appears to continue to make modest improvements, the reverse trend appears to be occurring among evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.

The Labor Department has been releasing monthly figures on the employment fortunes of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. In recent months, the situation had seemed to be improving. The overall unemployment rate among Katrina evacuees had fallen from 20.5 percent in November to 12.6 percent in February, largely because those families who had returned home were able to find jobs at a reasonable rate (60%), as were about 40% of those who were still evacuated.

The trend turned quite negative in March, however.

• The overall unemployment rate among Hurricane Katrina evacuees jumped from 12.6 to 16.5%.
• Among the 45 percent of Hurricane Katrina evacuees who have yet to return home 7 months after the storm, 34.7 percent were unemployed – meaning they were looking for work and unable to find any.

Who are those that have not returned home 7 months after the Hurricane--a near plurality of evacuees according to an official government survey that does not even include those living in shelters? For sure, it includes all of those whose homes have been destroyed and have not been able to return home (even in a trailer, I assume). As we know, this is a predominantly low-income group and in New Orleans, largely people of color. The 34 percent employment rate indicates that a first tentative step towards personal recovery remains elusive for evacuees--even when the overall labor market is tightening. The ongoing tragedy is that job opportunities exist in New Orleans and in other parts of Louisiana--but the federal government's unwillingness to act and local government snafus are stopping people from getting housed.

Thankfully, wherever they are Katrina evacuees can apply for amd receive Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) benefits. As of now, these workers can collect DUA for 39 weeks, an additional 13 weeks of jobless benefits beyond what is normally provided because of action taken by Congress in March. Workers unemployed as a result from Hurricane Katrina, the DUA program ends June 3rd and the program ends June 24th for those families unemployed by Hurricane Rita. If you know anyone still displaced by the Hurricane, please pass along information on the DUA program from the NELP fact sheet by visiting: http://www.nelp.org