Unemployment Benefits: Extension After EB (Union, Washington: 2009, insurance, credit)

[diorgirl]

Representative Jim McDermott, Democrat of Washington, who is chairman of a House panel with authority over the Unemployment Insurance program, has announced his intention to introduce a bill to provide 13 extra weeks of Unemployment Insurance benefits to workers in the highest unemployment states -– states with unemployment rates above 9%.

McDermott's office said that the bill will be introduced on Thursday, July 30, and likely acted upon by Congress in September after the summer recess.

New Jersey's unemployment rate for June 2009 was 9.2%, seasonally unadjusted.

McDermott to initiate bill to add 13 more weeks Unemployment benefits(per NELP)...

[diorgirl]

TheHill.com posted a story this evening reporting that a collection of lawmakers and special interest groups is pushing to extend tax credits and other benefits -- including unemployment -- effectively proposing another economic stimulus with a price tag of at least $88 billion.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/lawmakers-may-extend-the-stimulus-2009-07-30.html

About unemployment benefits specifically, the posting says that Democrats want to extend unemployment and health benefits set to expire at the end of the year that made up about $65 billion of the earlier stimulus. The House and Senate are likely to take up legislation when they return from the August recess.

According to the report, it’s difficult to estimate how much the extensions would cost since it is not known how long all of the extended provisions would last. In the case of the unemployment benefits, since more people are now jobless, the cost of extending those benefits would rise.

The first battle is expected to be over extending unemployment benefits, as Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) and other Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee already are crafting a bill to extend those benefits for a year. The earlier stimulus added $25 a week to unemployment checks and increased the time workers seeking jobs could receive those checks.

Some Democrats would also extend federal subsidies for healthcare coverage to the unemployed under the COBRA program. The subsidies reduced COBRA premiums by 65%, offered coverage to some who weren’t eligible, and were set to end in January. They cost nearly $25 billion.

Unions have thrown their support behind the effort, as have Democrats in the Senate, according to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), a Finance Committee member. She and other Democrats said allowing the enhanced benefits to expire is the wrong thing to do with the nation dealing with an unemployment rate at a 26-year high.

“It does not appear that there is any real hope in sight for new job creation and for jobs for the people that need them perhaps the most,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who wants to extend the COBRA benefits as well. “So we’re going to have to do something.”

“There is, right now, no light at the end of the tunnel,” said Kelly Ross, policy analyst for the AFL-CIO. “It’s too early to talk about ending it.”

The posting adds that extending the unemployment benefits will be controversial with Republicans.

[diorgirl]

A post in another thread supplies this link to McDermott's proposed bill to further extend Unemployment benefits beyond the current EB:

Congressman Jim McDermott - News

Of particular interest to New Jerseyans about this draft of the bill -- New Jersey's current unemployment level would not trigger the extended benefits.

The report that appears on McDermott's website (which is at the link above) states:

"The legislation also would provide an additional 13 weeks of EUC benefits in States with a three-month average total unemployment rate of at least 9 percent or an insured unemployment rate of at least 6 percent.

• Under current unemployment rates, this provision would extend benefits for an estimated one million workers who would otherwise run out of benefits by the end of the year in States with high unemployment.
• States that now meet the required trigger for additional weeks of benefits include AL, CA, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MS, NV, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, WA, & WI. Additionally, a number of other States are within one percentage point of this standard and may meet it within the coming months, including AK, AZ, DE, ME, MA, MO, NJ, NY & WV. States with lower unemployment rates may still trigger additional weeks under the current EUC and EB programs if unemployment rates rise."

[katedowney1]

so basically, if this thing goes thru, the bottom line is that NJ won't qualify for a while. If I am correct, this is NJ's 1st month(june stats) at 9% or higher so July's numbers ( which arent in yet ) would have to be 9% or above plus all of august would have to be 9% or above, then we would trigger ( the guidelines proposed say you need at least 3 months at 9% or higher)...that is if this all gets passed.


To my calculations, It will be about the 2nd week of Sept ( when aug #'s get released) before anyone sees an extension of weeks released in NJ.

Does this sound correct based on the proposed rules?

[diorgirl]

Originally Posted by katedowney1

so basically, if this thing goes thru, the bottom line is that NJ won't qualify for a while. If I am correct, this is NJ's 1st month(june stats) at 9% or higher so July's numbers ( which arent in yet ) would have to be 9% or above plus all of august would have to be 9% or above, then we would trigger ( the guidelines proposed say you need at least 3 months at 9% or higher)...that is if this all gets passed.

To my calculations, It will be about the 2nd week of Sept ( when aug #'s get released) before anyone sees an extension of weeks released in NJ.

Does this sound correct based on the proposed rules?

You are correct. That's exactly what the current draft of the bill means for NJ.

[katedowney1]

Thanks Diorgirl for all of the information. It has been very helpful to a lot of concerned people. Well the key word here is draft but if it does go thru at the 9% regulation, NJ will simply have to wait.

If I had read information correctly out there, nationwide, approx 640,000 people will run out of EB in August. Id say a fair fraction of those live in states that will not currently trigger just yet ( including NJ ) so the people who run out will simply have no checks for alittle while ( approx 4-6 weeks )....unless they suddenly find a job.

This is, of course, if the bill is passed exactly as drafted now. If they use the 9% for 3 months rule, there will be a big gap then. Plenty of states have not reached that yet. Like I mentioned before, NJ can only verify 1 month so far in the 9% area so, unless the bill is modified to trigger more easily, plenty of NJ people, with early august expiring EB, will have no checks for about 4-6 weeks and thatis if we remain at 9%.

They have to put some sort of regulation becuase as mentioned before, there isnt enough money to give every state and extension all at once.

[jbrewha74]

When they introduced EB, we were also at 8% for 1 month and we needed 3 months, by the time the bill was up for vote, we were at 8% for 3 months. Same will happen here, we need over 9% for July and Aug. The bill is not up for vote until Sept. Unemployment rate at this point will only go up before it goes down.

[Unemployed_In_NJ]

I dont understand the logic in this. TUR is a 3 month average. When July's unemployment rate for NJ comes out on August 21 (it usually comes out a day or 2 beforehand) that means that April's unemployment rate of 8.4% will drop out. Leaving 8.8% for May, 9.2% for June and and ??% for July. So according to my math, that means NJ's unemployment for July would only have to be 9.0% or higher in order to qualify for the guidelines under this bill if it was to be passed as is. A state doesn't have to be above 9 percent for all 3 months just average 9 percent for 3 months straight from what I gather, isn't that what TUR is? So by August 21 would could mathematically qualify for this, if it were to be passed and remain the same as it is documented now, correct?

[diorgirl]

Originally Posted by Unemployed_In_NJ

I dont understand the logic in this. TUR is a 3 month average. When July's unemployment rate for NJ comes out on August 21 (it usually comes out a day or 2 beforehand) that means that April's unemployment rate of 8.4% will drop out. Leaving 8.8% for May, 9.2% for June and and ??% for July. So according to my math, that means NJ's unemployment for July would only have to be 9.0% or higher in order to qualify for the guidelines under this bill if it was to be passed as is. A state doesn't have to be above 9 percent for all 3 months just average 9 percent for 3 months straight from what I gather, isn't that what TUR is? So by August 21 would could mathematically qualify for this, if it were to be passed and remain the same as it is documented now, correct?

You are right about the calculation, but the report summarizing the proposed bill talks about "now" -- and "now" does include April's percentage.

Since the bill will not be enacted before September, the state three-month average will include at least May, June, and July. Depending upon when the bill is actually enacted -- say late in September -- that three-month average could advance, perhaps to June, July, and August.

That's the point that jbrewha74's post makes: NJ may not qualify today, but in the past the state's unemployment rate has risen at a pace that enabled it to meet the three-month average requirement for the new extensions as they occurred. From that perspective, it's not a stretch to assume that NJ's rate will increase at a pace to qualify for the next round of extensions by the time that they are enacted.

Further, the report also acknowledges that: "Additionally, a number of other States are within one percentage point of this standard and may meet it within the coming months, including AK, AZ, DE, ME, MA, MO, NJ, NY & WV."

This issue is not one of logic -- the issue is not being able to foresee with certainty what the state's three-month average rate of unemployment will be at a given point in the future.

[ottomobeale]

WOW. IF that makes unemployment total 92 weeks...

With my part time job discounting my UI checks about 40%....

UI would last about 153 weeks for me. (Cross fingers still hoping on a contract to perm position in my field. 3 interviews thus far but they move at a glacial pace)

In NJ you get an acct in your name. You can earn up to 20% of your UI free and clear. After that it counts against your UI dollar for dollar but now you are not drawing as fast.

IE you get $500 a week in UI. You can earn $100 with no penalty. (NJ doesn not want you to quit your PT job if you lose your FT job so they give a bit of a cushion. It allows them to pay out less) IF you earn $300 a week in a PT job you earn $200 "too much" so you get a $300 check ILO a $500 check BUT you only draw down your UI account by $300.

I get about 40% penalty each check. It varies because its 100% commission and some weeks are better than others