Representatives Promise to Work For Employment

RALEIGH -- "If I don't get a job in six weeks, I am going to have to leave the boys with their father and move into my mother's basement in Chicago," said Marcia Mock, 53, a divorced mother of five, on Tuesday.

Mock, who lives in Cary, has a master's degree in zoology and has worked in molecular physiology. She lost her temporary job at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law when administrators hired someone with more experience.

Mock is one of the 36,000 benefiting from federal legislation to reinstate unemployed benefits for those engaged in a 13-week Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation program that ended Dec. 28.

But another 36,700 people nationwide were left out of the Unemployment Extension Bill passed last week.

This prompted U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, Brad Miller and David Price, all D-N.C., to meet Tuesday at the Employment Security Commission in Raleigh, where they proposed a mandatory 26 weeks of unemployment benefit for all.

Three years ago the commission assisted 5,000 unemployed persons. This figure has risen to more than 25,000.

There are 1.7 million fewer jobs nationally now than when President Bush took office, Etheridge said. "This president is headed toward the worst job-creation record of any administration in the last 58 years," he said.

Unemployment has risen to 6 percent nationally and 6.1 percent in North Carolina.

Miller said Democrats in Congress will propose cuts for all taxpayers to stimulate the economy and expand the job market. "The question we must ask is, 'Whose pocket do you need to put money in? Who will spend the money they get?'"

For some, the TEUC program does not provide enough time to find a suitable job, Price said. He stressed that unemployment benefits are not a permanent solution.

The representatives also criticized Bush's economic record as demonstrating his lack of concern for ordinary people.

Miller said as long as the economy continues to grow, he will not be content with any unemployment.

But those without jobs say they would prefer actions more than words and goals.

Mock said 6.1 percent unemployment "doesn't sound like a lot, but if it's you, it's 100 percent for you," Mock said.

Since June 1, Mock has applied for more than 200 jobs and received no interviews for the first four months.

She said she only survived because she drew on her health insurance, which was exhausted last month. "Today there is only one thing keeping me from crying. There is one job that it looks like I can do at N.C. State (University). ... Otherwise I might as well give up."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.