- 17,000 state residents will get extended benefits if unemployment rate climbs high enough, By Janice Posada, September 14, 2009, Hartford Courant: “When Connecticut’s unemployment rate dipped to 7.8 percent in July from 8 percent in May and June, economists took it as a sign that recession-related job losses were finally starting to level off. But the slowing pace of unemployment, if it continues, could hurt about 17,000 jobless workers in the state. They would be eligible for seven additional weeks of federal unemployment benefits – but only if the jobless rate jumps to 8.2 percent in August…”
- Soaring jobless rate taxes insurance system, By Eve Tahmincioglu, September 14, 2009, MSNBC.com: “Cynthia Paulson of Mesa, Ariz., made a mistake on her form when she filed for an extension on her unemployment benefits in July, and she fell into a bureaucratic black hole. Mike Dixon of Seattle put in for unemployment benefits after he lost his job as a software engineer, but his employer denied his claim, resulting in a delay of nearly two months in collecting any money. As the nation’s unemployment rate approaches 10 percent, Paulson and Dixon are just two of the hundreds of thousands of people dealing with bureaucratic delays in the nation’s increasingly stretched unemployment insurance system…”
- Falling through jobless benefit crack, By Scott Whipple, September 14, 2009, Bristol Press: “Maybe you caught the special in late August on MSNBC. The network broadcast a chilling report on the estimated 1.5 million people on the verge of losing their jobless benefits. Though the unemployment compensation program has been extended over and over from the basic 26 weeks, the crack is widening and more people are falling through. In fact, the national Employment Law Project expects 540,000 people to fall out of the unemployment program by the end of this month…”
- Congress should continue jobless benefits, Editorial, September 14, 2009, Detroit News: “Nearly 100,000 Michigan residents stand to lose their unemployment benefits at year’s end. Congress is working to extend those benefits and should do so. But Michigan businesses also have an unemployment crisis. They face hundreds of millions of dollars in new unemployment taxes and penalties in the next few years that could damage their recovery and slow the hiring of new workers. It’s a vicious circle that only Congress can fix. Normally, laid-off workers are entitled to 26 weeks of unemployment insurance. The cost of this insurance is covered by a tax levied by the state on all firms. Because of the severity of this recession, Congress has adopted special unemployment benefits covered from the federal treasury for workers. Together, employer-paid and federal benefits now add up to 79 weeks of unemployment coverage…”
Day: September 15, 2009
Funding for Low-income Housing
Recession dries up funds for low-income housing, By J.W. Elphinstone (AP), September 13, 2009, Contra Costa Times: “For thousands of low-income renters nationwide – but especially in rural towns and small cities – the recession is hitting home in an unexpected way. Nationwide, funding to build low-cost apartments has dropped by more than half in two years to $4 billion. Hundreds of projects can’t get off the ground because the federal tax credits that help offset development costs are currently worthless to traditional investors. Georgia, for example, typically funds about 30 projects a year using up to $20 million in federal tax credits. So far, just nine deals have closed for 2008 and none this year. In Savannah, one project was halted mid-development because of a financing gap…”
Child Welfare Education and Training – Louisiana
Schools target child welfare, By Sarah Chacko, September 13, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Louisiana universities are taking steps to improve the state’s child-welfare system with a targeted curriculum for students and specialized training for social workers. Federal grant money is helping seven state universities focus their curriculum on areas where child-welfare workers need the most support, such as finding ways to help children who have been abused and neglected, and dealing with their own work-related stress. ‘Louisiana is one of the few states in the country that does not have a specialized child-welfare discipline within its university systems,’ DSS Secretary Kristy Nichols told a state Commission on Streamlining Government…”