I write this with the clear understanding that I don’t know what I’m talking about. I will therefore keep this fairly simple:
I read today about how the unemployment fund may run dry next year.
While I read this, I know that there is stimulus money available for unemployment support, especially for those whose hours have been cut (one friend of mine just got laid off & two others just had their hours reduced, so this is fairly fresh information for me at the moment).
So… when we talk about the unemployment fund, and its status in terms of how much money is in it, is stimulus money even entering the discussion?
I don’t have any insight here, but I have questions, and I know this is a good place to ask this sort of question.
acceptance of the stimulus funds for unemployment requires an increase in payouts that can never be reduced. I’m not sure what the rate of increase is but it is much higher than what unemployment compensation is now. The funds are only available for a certain amount of time so in the future if the state needed to reduce the payout we would be obligated to pay all of the money back to the Feds.
For every dollar of money the state gets from the Feds there is a string attached. These stimulus funds are not one-ups.
The situation we are in now didn’t arise overnight. The taxable wage base was held artificially low at $8,000 for many years, even though the economy was doing well and could have supported a higher level of contributions to build up the stability of the fund. Probably another byproduct of the idea that good times were here to stay. The program is designed so that in good economic times the fund takes in more than it pays out, and in bad economic times it pays out more than it takes in. There are about thirty-five states whose unemployment fund is in at least as bad shape as Vermont’s. Of those, only one is considering the kind of benefit cuts that the administration is pushing for here.
The fund is set up so that it is possible for states to borrow from the federal fund, and then pay it back over time. Borrowing money to keep Vermont’s fund solvent would, of course, necessitate paying it back.
The Legislature has a bill in committee that would amend the program to enable unemployed workers in approved retraining programs to continue receiving unemployment benefits even if their benefits would otherwise run out during their training program. It would bring in millions of additional stimulus money.
These are the benefits that would be required to continue even after the stimulus money runs out. On the other hand, if people are losing jobs because the jobs have gone away and there is no reasonable likelihood that they will return, retraining for other skilled employment is essential to the future health of the economy.
The workers didn’t cause this problem. An unemployed worker has already suffered a huge economic setback. It is wrong to attack unemployed workers in response to this crisis, and it is wrongheaded to take needed income from unemployed workers at a time when economic activity is what we need to keep our state economy going.
http://tr.im/kJOW
Does anyone else find it very inappropriate that our Commissioner of Labor staged a press conference with Business leaders to call for a cut in unemployment benefits?
These Douglas hacks get away with murder. They don’t represent all Vermonters. They represent the same people that fund the governor’s campaigns and the campaigns of other legislators who suck on the teat of business. The concerns of normal Vermonters are being cast aside in favor of dollars and perks for GOP soldiers.
Isn’t this labor secretary the same woman who told Vermonters waiting online to speak with the DOL to treat their wait like a radio call-in contest? Shows you how far up her ass her head is.