Florida law results in more denials of unemployment benefits (file, EDD, UI)

[Ariadne22]

Just thinking about Mississippi. 10.4% unemployment. If its legislature would have agreed to accept 100% federally funded EB, recipients would spend that and, to some degree, create more jobs, thus reducing that high rate of unemployment a bit. Some states are bound and determined to shoot themselves in the foot. I suspect the people most affected have little political influence.

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by Ariadne22

Florida is a low-tax state. Low taxes translates to minimal/very poor social services, generally. Ironically, many of the low tax/low cost-of-living states have the highest rates of unemployment.

Ranking:
42 - Georgia - 9.4%
43 - South Carolina - 9.6%
45 - Florida - 9.9%
47 - Mississippi - 10.4%
47 - North Carolina - 10.4%

Mississippi won't even pay 100% federally funded Extended Benefits.

Bottom of the list, of course, in UE rates are Nevada and CA, whose economic/population dynamics are quite different than those of MI, FL, etc.

Unemployment Rates for States

Exactly. FL is a very screwed up state. You have a lot of part time residents, a lot of northern transplants who are retired who don't want to pay for anything.

They don't care about schools, and the level of education in FL is very poor. It comes in at #47 in students completing high school, yet it the 4th most populated state.

I saw something on the news where a house burned down in Lakeland, FL. The complaint was the fire dept. was too far from the housing development and that is why the house burned down.

Yet the same people would scream if they got a tax increase to pay for a new firehouse that was closer.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Exactly. FL is a very screwed up state. You have a lot of part time residents, a lot of northern transplants who are retired who don't want to pay for anything.

They don't care about schools, and the level of education in FL is very poor. It comes in at #47 in students completing high school, yet it the 4th most populated state.

I saw something on the news where a house burned down in Lakeland, FL. The complaint was the fire dept. was too far from the housing development and that is why the house burned down.

Yet the same people would scream if they got a tax increase to pay for a new firehouse that was closer.

Part of the problem is the weigh the graduations. If a student changes schools during high school, they are considered drop outs, even if they graduate from a different school. While I agree that overall the educational system is a bust, there are a good number of high schools (I believe around 30 or so) on the "Top 500 list."

The problem is that the really bad schools drag down the middle of the road ones, and you never hear about the best ones.

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by annerk

Part of the problem is the weigh the graduations. If a student changes schools during high school, they are considered drop outs, even if they graduate from a different school. While I agree that overall the educational system is a bust, there are a good number of high schools (I believe around 30 or so) on the "Top 500 list."

The problem is that the really bad schools drag down the middle of the road ones, and you never hear about the best ones.

I don't believe the dropout rate which is around 25% includes students transferring schools. These are people who just dropout period.

If you talk to anyone who moves from up north to FL with school age children the problem becomes the curriculum. They have a 9th grader coming home and saying they're doing the same work they did up north in the 7th grade.

That's why so many people end up putting their kids in private school, and there goes that COL savings. And even a private school in FL doesn't mean it is going to be better.

What passes for an outstanding school in FL is considered average in other states.

There may be few exceptions, but FL overall lags behind most of the nation in education and you see the results of it on a daily basis.

[WFW&P]

Originally Posted by TRC2k11

That's why I don't miss Georgia.

I see Washington is middle of the road on that list... the lack of an income tax is made up somewhat by a higher sales tax. The cost of living is higher as well...

I can see how South Dakota's unemployment is so low... on my move out here last year I stopped at a Wal-mart outside of Sioux Falls... and every register was manned at 11am on a Wednesday. To date that is the first and only time I've ever seen that happen. A far cry from walking in and seeing 3 registers open with 60 people in line.

Is this a new Wal-Mart? If it is report back in 6 months with the same news.

I've collected UE benefits in the past and this state required 3 job searches per week. This was so painfully easy on occasion I would apply at a store I was shopping at just to knock one out of the way.

[Zenstyle]

Hee. Back in the day (1980 or so) I would stick my head in a store and yell out, "are you hiring?" The answer was invariably "No." I'd reply, "Okay, well, for the record, I was here and asked, right? 'Bye!"
Then skedaddle.

I'm sorry about Floridians' situation. They can rectify it at the ballot box if they educate themselves.

[Magnolia Bloom]

I don't think that showing you applied for five jobs a week is a bad thing. And the workforce office has computers and folks there to assist in using them. In Jacksonville, I had a person that was assigned to me and his positive attitude and words of support really helped me, as I was feeling so small. I imagine that in the more rural counties, folks must rely on the library if they don't have a local workforce office or home computer. But library funding has been cut by the Florida legislature and many counties and cities......

When I was on unemployment I was contacted once and asked to provide a list of the jobs I applied for and the list was a couple of pages long (not in one week, though). However, most were anonymous craigslist ads, so I don't know how they could have verified them.

Florida has some scary folks making the laws. And then, as has been said, Rick Scott, the one-term governor that we now have. Drug testing welfare recipients - 96% of the recipients passed the drug test, so those tests were paid for by the state- $178 million a year to taxpayers.... That's a chunk of change that could have been better spent on helping the unemployed with career placement, enhancing skills, etc.

$250* a week as the maximum benefit in Florida only serves to further erode the unemployed middle class. And that is exactly what has happened. ($25* stimulus is added by the federal government, for a total of $275 a week.)

Educated voters in the long term, and empathy and helping our neighbor in the short term, is what will pull us out of this hard, harsh situation.

[Ariadne22]

Originally Posted by Magnolia Bloom

$250* a week as the maximum benefit in Florida only serves to further erode the unemployed middle class. And that is exactly what has happened. ($25* stimulus is added by the federal government, for a total of $275 a week.)

Maximum benefit in FL is still $275/wk. The $25 stimulus was in addition to the basic $275 benefit. Those payments ended in December 2010.

Florida Unemployment Information

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by Magnolia Bloom

I don't think that showing you applied for five jobs a week is a bad thing. And the workforce office has computers and folks there to assist in using them. In Jacksonville, I had a person that was assigned to me and his positive attitude and words of support really helped me, as I was feeling so small. I imagine that in the more rural counties, folks must rely on the library if they don't have a local workforce office or home computer. But library funding has been cut by the Florida legislature and many counties and cities......

When I was on unemployment I was contacted once and asked to provide a list of the jobs I applied for and the list was a couple of pages long (not in one week, though). However, most were anonymous craigslist ads, so I don't know how they could have verified them.

Florida has some scary folks making the laws. And then, as has been said, Rick Scott, the one-term governor that we now have. Drug testing welfare recipients - 96% of the recipients passed the drug test, so those tests were paid for by the state- $178 million a year to taxpayers.... That's a chunk of change that could have been better spent on helping the unemployed with career placement, enhancing skills, etc.

$250* a week as the maximum benefit in Florida only serves to further erode the unemployed middle class. And that is exactly what has happened. ($25* stimulus is added by the federal government, for a total of $275 a week.)

Educated voters in the long term, and empathy and helping our neighbor in the short term, is what will pull us out of this hard, harsh situation.

Well your last paragraph is hopeful but I don't know that it will happen. FL is not known for "educated voters" or "empathy" for others.

It is the land of "me first", you see it on the roads and in the stores.

Granted it comes from transplants for the most part, but I have now lived in 5 states and hands down FL is the dumbest and the rudest when it comes to everyday behavior.

And again you have a lot of part time residents who only live there 4 months out of the year, so they don't care about having an infrastructure, many of them aren't even Americans.


I asked several people who voted for him you do know that he was involved in the largest Medicare fraud in US history. Their answer was well he wasn't convicted. Well neither was Casey Anthony but we all know she killed that child.

The only thing the state has going for it is nice winters.

[North Beach Person]

Then FL is, as usual, behind the times. PA had the "apply for 5 jobs per week" requirement 30 years ago. Which was real fun when everything was shutting down and closing.