The House will vote this week, during an emergency session, on a bill offered by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., to extend those benefits by an additional 13 weeks for the more than 300,000 unemployed who live in states with unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent and who are scheduled to run out of benefits by the end of September.
With statewide unemployment at 10.8 percent, and county unemployment at 13.6 percent in July, that should put North Carolina in the running to receive some of those funds, but Carpenter said it all depends on the bill’s stipulations.
The 13-week extension would supplement the 26 weeks of benefits most states offer, the federally funded extensions of up to 53 weeks that Congress approved in legislation last year, and in the stimulus bill enacted last February.
And while the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, said last week that the recession is “likely over,” he did stress that “it’s still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time as many people will still find that their job security and their employment status is not what they wish it was.”
But despite the gloomy forecast on jobs and the high number of unemployed, Carpenter said there are jobs out there to be had.
“You might have to do a little extra work like get your high school diploma or GED, which we encourage anyway, but there are jobs available,” Carpenter said.
Because everyone’s unemployment benefits are on different schedules, Carpenter said it’s unclear how many people in Richmond County are receiving those benefits. But she did say in July there were 21,022 people in the labor force in the county, 18,158 of those were employed, and 2,864 of them unemployed. She said the numbers are all estimates because some people don’t respond to surveys.
In order to receive unemployment benefits, someone has to have been laid off from a job. If they were fired or discharged, they could still be eligible for benefits but the Employment Securities Commission (ESC) would have to look into why they were let go to determine eligibility.
Carpenter saw similar economic hardships in the mid 1980s when she first began working with the ESC, but it’s different now, she said.
“People may not be earnestly trying to seek work,” she said. “There are jobs out there, but you might have to swallow your pride for a little bit and do something you’re overqualified and underpaid for. And now people are on unemployment and they want more and they can’t get it.
“We’re doing free workshops and can’t get people to participate. I know a lot of people are working hard, but a lot are not. Unemployment is good, and I tell people to go ahead and get it, but there are no benefits, no help saving for retirement ... we’ve all had to do things we didn’t want to do in our careers. You just do what needs to be done to get by.”
Carpenter said during unemployment, another good thing to do is to volunteer.
“Help someone else,” she said.
And if you’re unemployed, get your GED or high school diploma, she said. “It doesn’t cost anything until you take the test.”
There’s also the JobsNOW program dedicated to getting people back in the work force in just six weeks by providing them with training certificates in a specific field.
“We’ve got plenty of people who want to take these classes but we’re supposed to use the money for new people and people who have been laid off,” Carpenter said. “We’ve got stimulus money to do this and people aren’t taking advantage of it.
“There’s no excuse to not have a diploma or GED,” Carpenter stressed again. “The better we make the people in Richmond County, the more industry we can attract and that improves the quality of life for everyone.”
The National Employment Law Project says about 5 million people, about one-third of those on the unemployment list, have been without a job for six months or more.
The current state unemployment check is about $300 a month, supplemented by $25 included in the stimulus act.
McDermott has said this bill will not add to the federal deficit because it would extend for a year a federal unemployment tax of $14 per employee, per year that employers have been paying for more than 30 years. It would also require better reporting on newly-hired employees to reduce unemployment insurance overpayments.
Other states that could see the benefits of this bill include Alabama, Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
Your Statement above is one that should come with corrective action from your employer! I was empolyed for 7.5 years making 65,000 plus a year.
Unemployment is paying me half of my income $13.78 an hour. I have a family with two children. I would guess that I should work at McDonald's and explain to my family that I am swallowing my pride! You have a Job, and this bad advice to us you are searching to replace our income. There are people that ride the system, and there are good people who need a helping hand. I am a Gulf war Veteran 7 years of US Army service. Maybe if you were looking for a job to replace your salary you would have a different view.