Time is running out for 70,000 jobless workers
Federally paid extended unemployment compensation will end on July 1 because of changes made to North Carolina’s unemployment insurance system by state lawmakers earlier this year. Seventy-thousand jobless workers will be affected immediately, but the federal Labor Department estimates some 170,000 people in all will have lost access to these crucial benefits through the end of 2013.
State lawmakers had a chance to postpone the effective date of their cuts to unemployment benefits by advancing a bill before a legislative deadline two weeks ago. Republican leaders, who control the state legislature, opted not to bring the bill up for a vote, a failure we and the NC Justice Center blasted as taking “an extremist policy position, one that no other state has taken, and all at the expense of struggling workers, their families and the state’s economy.”
NC Policy Watch reports that the agency responsible for implementing the cuts and running our state’s unemployment insurance program, the NC Division of Employment Security, has only just begun to let know people who will be affected when North Carolina hits the unemployment cliff on July 1.
“We’re really desperate as to what’s going on here,” said JoAnn Loggins, of Morganton, who learned about the cut-off through a friend. “If they cut off unemployment, I’m going to be devastated; I’m going to be homeless.”
Loggins, 69, cares for her mentally disabled granddaughter and has been without a job since February when she was laid off from her position handling billing for a trucking company.
The changes are a result of a far-reaching law passed and signed this February to repay money North Carolina borrowed during the recession and restructure the state’s unemployment system. The new law caps weekly benefits at $350, down from the current $535, and limits the length of unemployment to a sliding scale of 13 to 20 weeks of unemployment, down from six months, when the unemployment rate is above 9 percent.
It will drop to between 12 to 19 weeks of benefits when the unemployment rate is between 8.5 and 9 percent, as it is now.
The state’s seasonably adjusted unemployed rate for April was 8.9 percent, the lowest it’s been since January 2009 but still the fifth-highest in the nation, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The stubbornly high unemployment rate comes as no surprise to Loggins, the unemployed worker from Morganton. With 25 years in the trucking industry, she’s sent out resumes and attended job retraining classes but hasn’t been able to find replacement work. She suspects employers overlook her because of her age.
“Why would you hire someone that should already be retired?,” she said. “But I still need to work and I can learn anything.”
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It’s outrageous that the original bill based in Feb 2013 and now the unemployed citizens of this state are given a month – 2 months to figure out what to do with their livelihood if the HB 922 is not passed. I personally became unemployed within NC at the end of Jan / beginning of Feb 2013 and I am currently collecting my benefits. This is not something I personally planned to experience; unemployed and receiving benefits that are considerably less than what I made at my pervious job or as I thought my career; no health insurance, no EUC benefits if I do not find a job will equal no money for my car payment how am I to apply for a job with unknowing rather I will have a car to get back and forth to a job, having to consider welfare for food now is a possibility, and becoming dependent on someone elses kindness to provide shelter, power, and water is a new low that now my be a fact as I have been independent making my own since I was 18. Not only am I not going to be provided with an extension in benefits if I do not have a job, when I have done my due diligence looking for work daily and applying for jobs that I thought I would never have to consider as a career path, but I am “over qualified” for or I just never hear anything back. My story is as simple as this I worked with a company for 7 – 8 years put in 110% for this company pulled into an office and I’m laid off no reason provided other than you are a great asset you have exceeded and meet your goals, but when asked what I did … I did nothing… all I can assume is that I was the name drawn from the hat.. I have worked for in the state of NC since I was 18 single no kids, because I was responsible enough to not have kids knowing that my income level would be stretched and that would not be fair for me or a child that all breaks down that I paid ALOT in taxes no dependents no special deductions just straight up alot of taxes out of my paycheck to the state of NC and to the Fed, but yet it seems I would have been better popping out kids left and right and getting that nice dependent/s claim on my taxes yearly (would have helped to pay my car off) not to mention the amount of Food Stamps, but no no I chose to work 40+ hours a week and be a responsible adult and look where that has lead me. I can understand if someone has been drawing the extension program for 1+ years that their should be more initiative placed on placement of those unemployed being more proactive with assisting those unemployed, but those of us who just started down this unemployment path in 2013 give me a break not only is is stressful that you lose your job and this is a fall back for help, but it’s pulled right underneath you for no good reason?? Maybe if the state would invest in random drug testing for anyone who receives benefits on any state program and if FAILED they discontinue benefits forever their would be more help for those who actually need it… I really do not understand it, but I guess NC will need to hire additional state employees to start taking in the thousands of applications for state programs – Food Stamps – Hud – Medicaid and whatever else programs they offer usually to those with children and I’m guessing $150 in Food Stamps a month to assist someone without children… Big win to this state really shows your true appreciation for those who have fought hard, poured their soul, slept in tears, worked on holidays, worked through vacations to ensure a paycheck to pay you taxes all while the cost of living went higher and higher and the normal tax payer well our pay did not, but we made budget adjustments and went without while you where able to sit and read a bill and pass it when I highly doubt you can even comprehend what it truly means. I appreciate your appreciation as much as the other 70k – 100k+ of us do. Next time you are driving or having your personal driver take you around NC and you see someone on the side of the road at the bottom of the barrell, their pride ripped from them, and a sign begging for money just think you probably assisted with accomplishing this for that person not a number on a piece of paper, not a dollar sign, but that person with a heart beating holding that sign begging for money from strangers that assume they are worthless … That person that had a life worth fighting for at one time daily, but now just needs to survive maybe you will take a minute to understand that your actions actually affect human beings and they are the ones living with the consequences of your actions while you are getting praise and patting yourself on the back over a $50 a plate dinner for playing the numbers game.
Can anyone say what can be done to speed up the process of HB 922 being in front of our representatives before its too late. The bill was proposed in April, and no action has been reported since. I, like the lady above will be forced to apply for welfare, food stamps, HUD housing etc. That helps NO ONE! This small amount of unemployment I have been receiving since December 2012 is what helps feed my kids, literally! PLease help push this bill through to save many families who have already lost so much. Again, unemployment isn’t an option, but was put into place for people who lost employment due to no fault of their own, and these seem to be the people who need it most, and will get back on their feet. Not just be a drain on society and stay on goverment assistance for years! The recently unemployed deserve what is being offered by the Federal Goverment, and is foolish to deny these benefits to hard-working men and women who are struggling right now anyway, to jerk the rug out from under us when we are seriously trying to find a job is heartless. I have read some people of being unemployed for 2+ years, I’ve been unemployed for 26 weeks and am being put inthe same category as those who have clearly had 2 years more time to try to find a job. I know there is a solution, please help try to get it.