Workers seek help as unemployment crisis widens

NJ welfare lines grow longer as jobs continue to dry up - NJ.com:

"Photos by Jerry McCrea/The Star-Ledger The line extends down the block from the Essex County Department of Citizen Services in East Orange. Below, resident Jay Washington is one of those having trouble rejoining the workforce."

"By 9 a.m., the line snakes down South Clinton Street and extends along Freeway East. Once the people clear the metal detector, they're in line again -- some for hours, baby carriages in tow -- divided into their different needs. Every week hundreds will leave empty-handed because county workers are too inundated to help them all. They are given an appointment and told to come back later -- sometimes 10 days later."

"All over the New Jersey, the welfare lines are getting longer and longer. Victims of the recession are lining up to apply for food stamps and seek help paying for utilities, rent and subsidized health care in numbers that veteran social service workers have never seen before."

Posted by Chuck Bell at 6:34 AM