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December 2001
 More than 75,000 Laid-Off
Workers Have Lost Health Coverage Since the Recession Began in
March
Unemployment Is Rising Rapidly
The nation's economy
was already showing signs of a slowdown before the tragic events
of September 11. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently
concluded that the slowdown is a recession that began in March
2001. From March 2001 to August 2001, the unemployment rate rose
from 4.3 percent to 4.9 percent, and the number of unemployed grew
from 6,088,000 to 6,957,0000 as an additional 869,000 people
joined the ranks of the uninsured.
The economic
deterioration accelerated in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
From September to October 2001, the national unemployment rate
rose from 4.9 percent to 5.4 percent, the largest one-month jump
since February 1986. By October, the number of unemployed people
had grown to 7,741,000, an increase of more than three-quarters
of a million since August, and an increase of more than 1.65
million since March. The week ending September 29 saw 528,000 new
unemployment claims across the country, the highest number of new
weekly claims since July 1992.
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