State Unemployment Compensation Funds Drying Up In At Least 10 States

[Better Believe It]

Some state unemployment funds drying up
By Emanuella Grinberg
CNN
October 8, 2008

(CNN) -- The demand for unemployment benefits across the country has put a strain on state unemployment funds, with such funds in at least 10 states facing insolvency in 2009, according to a policy group.

"There are some real serious problems with unemployment funding that need to be addressed," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project, a policy group that advocates on behalf of unemployed and low-wage workers.

The group, which tracks legislation and activity related to state and federal unemployment benefits, says that California, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas have less than six months' worth of unemployment trust fund reserves, putting the funds at high risk of insolvency.

"These states are not ready for a recession, and they're going to see a big hit if we have a protracted job slump," Stettner said. "We're going to see them seriously in the red, but they can take some action and not be swimming in red ink."

Economists blame the situation on the failure of states to beef up their reserves when the economy was in better shape. "When times were good, instead of putting money into a trust fund, lawmakers gave in to anti-tax fervor and refused to raise taxes to build up a healthy trust fund," said Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute. "Now, as payrolls decline and tax revenue declines, there is less money going into funds that were already running low."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/08/jobless.claims/index.html

[Hubert Flottz]

1. Yes but we have plenty of "MORALITY"

That was the Issue that put Bush back in the White House in 2004. I bet it tastes good!

[hay rick]

2. Next up- municipalities.

In many states, municipalities (and counties) get state aid. This aid is threatened by reduced state revenues. I expect their property tax receipts are also being affected by the bad economy and the rising tide of foreclosures. Towns are also struggling with short-term financing as the credit markets seize up. I know NJ is stepping in to provide short-term credit to some municipalities. Bond issues are also getting costlier.

[4 t 4]

3. I took a 3 month family

emergency leave to take care of my mom who was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. My leave was up, asked for an extension my mom was getting better, no extension sorry I didn't go back to work. I received a letter from my co. that I had been terminated with a hand filled out letter to apply for unemployment . I did. I was turned down, I took them to court, I lost. The main reason was because they ask you: are you currently looking and Available for work, I made the huge mistae of telling the TRUTH: No I was caring for my mother. Less than two weeks later she died. Still they said no. So bottom line I took a leave to care for my mother, My company has never been involved to this day They have no objections. My mother passed away within two weeks of my filing. I have been working and paying into the system for 33 years. I have been on unemployment once in my life when my company was bought out and I and the rest of the staff were layed off. That's 1 time in 33 years. So they give big banks 850 billion dollars. Whats wrong with this picture? I live in Illinois.

[wanpete]

4. the next president really has a mess on his hands as soon as he takes office...

this country is spiraling towards a very deep and scary economic meltdown from the smallest town to the largest states. This was directly caused by Republican greed and the "tax cuts always" doctrine they have rallied for decades.

The chickens are coming home to roost, and we will all suffer because of it. May the nightmare end soon.

[OhioChick]

5. I figured that Ohio was in there somewhere.

K&R

[NanBo]

6. funny Wi is in there

"When times were good, instead of putting money into a trust fund, lawmakers gave in to anti-tax fervor and refused to raise taxes to build up a healthy trust fund,"

We have one of the highest tax bases in the country! My little house has property taxes equal to my mom's in Ill and her's is worth 2x's mine. That just sucks.

[1776Forever]

7. I live in a small town in Ohio & over 2000 were laid off here in the last month.

I was just wondering what was going to happen to their unemployment money. This is VERY serious! Soup lines don't seem outrageous right now. When I left Florida a few months ago because we couldn't afford it any more there were 100's living in tents in the county I lived in. The Shuttle Industry is going to lay off a lot there too very soon. It will get worse before it gets better.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

8. This is where part of the $700bn Congress was able to find should

have gone. We needed a bottoms-up bailout.

[Horse with no Name]

9. I qualify for FEMLA due to a chronic illness

I am consistently about 100 hours short of meeting my 1250 hours because I was hospitalized for several weeks last year.
I find it quite amusing that in the last year...I have had 600 hours of "on-call" time that cannot be calculated into my work time and used to satisfy those hours--even though I was tied to my pager and they still owned me for those hours. I had to be ready AT ANY GIVEN TIME to be there within 30 minutes to meet THEIR needs.

[lonestarnot]

10. Cadaverick's home state is looking pretty bleak, but I don't know the numbers.

[Greyhound]

11. Oregon solved it, they are just denying all claims and betting most will find

jobs before their appeal hearing, 3 - 6 months later.:grr:

[hay rick]

12. SSDI pioneered this approach.

Sounds like what the administration has been doing with Social Security Disability denial appeals. Current backlog: 500 days! More than 60% of claimants win their appeals.

links:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-29-disabilityinside_N.htm
http://www.disabilityhappens.com/former-ssdi-examiner-spills-beans.html
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/12/11/backlog-of-disability-cases-in-america-is-a-disgrace-and-hardship/