Blog
May 3, 2013
Sequester Cuts to Federal Unemployment Benefits Start to Hit in Many States
Update 7: June 12, 2013 -- During the last ten weeks, nearly all the states and the District of Columbia have implemented cuts to benefit amounts paid under the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program – damaging cuts mandated under the mindless and harmful federal budget sequester that was triggered March 1 by Congressional failure to enact rational budget policies. read more »
April 2, 2013
New York State Lawmakers Approve Changes to Unemployment Insurance Benefits
Provisions passed as part of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s annual budget will make much-needed improvements to the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) program. Finally, New York’s maximum UI benefit, unchanged from $405 since 2000, will increase. This change is long overdue. Today, the state’s maximum benefit replaces just one-third of the state’s average paycheck; the average benefit of about $300 replaces just one-quarter, worse than in nearly every other state. read more »
March 13, 2013
New York City Council Passes Landmark Bill Protecting Unemployed Job-Seekers From Discrimination
BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: MARCH 13 - The New York City Council today voted 43-4 to override a mayoral veto and enact strongest-in-the-nation legislation prohibiting employers from refusing to consider or hire qualified job applicants simply because they are unemployed. read more »
February 26, 2013
Federal Unemployment Benefit Cuts to Hit in Budget ‘Sequester’
Yet another dangerous policy debacle, caused by Congressional stonewalling, is set to unleash large-scale across-the-board federal spending cuts – known as ‘sequestration’-- totaling $1.2 trillion over ten years. Most immediately, $85 billion of these senseless budget cuts for this fiscal year will trigger automatically on March 1. As a result, long-term unemployed workers receiving federal unemployment insurance will see their benefits reduced by 9.4 percent or more for the remainder of the fiscal year (through September 30, 2013), absent Congressional action. Large-scale cuts will also hit job-search assistance, reemployment services, and unemployment insurance administrative funds that are needed for claims and benefit processing. read more »
February 13, 2013
N.C. Enacts Harshest Cuts to Unemployment Insurance, Shutting Off Federal Extension Benefits
In a display of shocking disregard for the hardships facing the four hundred thousand unemployed job-seekers in North Carolina, where the state’s 9.2 percent jobless rate is the nation’s fifth highest, state lawmakers have passed sweeping changes to unemployment insurance (UI) that deeply slash benefits, cut back available weeks, and severely restrict claimants’ eligibility. UPDATE - Feb. 19: Governor Pat McCrory signed the bill today. read more »
January 3, 2013
Federal Unemployment Insurance Renewed for 2013
Just one hour before midnight on New Year’s Day, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a one-year renewal of federally-funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) as part of a year-end tax compromise which had passed the Senate some twenty hours earlier, and President Obama signed the measure yesterday. The reauthorization maintains the EUC program through December 31, 2013 as it was structured during the last four months of 2012. It neither adds nor reduces the maximum weeks of available EUC benefits for which states qualify depending on their three-month average unemployment rates. read more »