Long-term unemployed finding it sometimes pays better not to work, By Mara Lee, March 10, 2010, Hartford Courant: “Ten months after Mark Krawiec lost his road construction job, he eagerly took a six-week assignment on Route 2 that paid just over $1,000 a week. Big mistake. ‘By working and knowing it wasn’t steady, and it wasn’t going to last long, I cut my own throat,’ said Krawiec, 60, of Plainville. That’s because in January 2010, the state Department of Labor reset his benefits based on the work he did in 2009. His weekly check dropped from $544 to $254. Krawiec had no idea that accepting work would slash his unemployment pay this way. Hardly anyone does. It’s a quirk in the federal rules that’s most likely hurting thousands of Connecticut residents who have been searching for work for more than a year, many from the hard-hit construction trades…”
Day: March 10, 2010
Welfare-to-Work Program – Mississippi
Miss. leading work program, By Gary Pettus, March 7, 2010, Jackson Clarion Ledger: “Instead of depending forever on food stamps, Jessica Eubanks has deserted the unemployment line for a full-time job in a pediatrician’s office. In the meantime, the state of Mississippi – the best in the nation at moving people from welfare to work – temporarily helps her pay for child care and transportation costs.’I just needed a chance,’ said Eubanks, 29, of Florence, a single mother of three. ‘And someone gave it to me.’ Those payments flow out of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families work program, which is helping thousands of Mississippians find jobs and keep them. It’s a result of the government’s effort to make a paycheck more attractive than a welfare check, while still tending to the needs of poor children. ‘I believe some people don’t know how blessed we are to have this program,’ Eubanks said. Administered by the state’s Department of Human Services, Mississippi’s TANF program is ranked No. 1 in the country for work participation rates at 63.2 percent. The national rate is under 30 percent…”
Welfare Reform – Australia
Welfare crackdown misses targets, By Adele Horn, March 11, 2010, Sydney Morning Herald: “The welfare-to-work reform implemented under the Howard government failed to achieve its objectives, leaving three of the four target groups – disability pensioners, the very long-term unemployed and mature-age unemployed – little or no better off, an official report shows. Sole parents fared better in the job market after the reforms began in July 2006. The numbers on the single parenting payment fell significantly from 433,730 before the reform to 338,756 in December 2009. But it is unclear if sole parents are financially better off. The report, by the research and evaluation group of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, says the results were mixed. Despite being implemented at a time of strong labour market demand: ‘Welfare to work was only partly successful in achieving its objectives…'”