State to finally replace ancient jobless-claims computer, By Jim Stratton, May 21, 2013, Orlando Sentinel: “In good news for the jobless and employers alike, the state’s 1970s-era computer that processes unemployment claims is finally getting replaced. The new system is coming this fall, five years after the computer almost ground to a halt. The $63 million network is expected to make online filing easier for jobless Floridians. Officials say it will give them ready access to their payment history and allow them to quickly determine whether a claim has been approved. It should ease the workload on employers — who pay for the state’s unemployment trust fund — and help the state reduce and recover overpayments. Officials with the Department of Economic Opportunity estimate it will cut program costs by $43 million a year…”
Day: May 22, 2013
Kids Count Report – New Jersey
- Poverty up 20 percent among N.J. children 5 and younger, report says, By Susan K. Livio, May 22, 2013, Star-Ledger: “More than two years after the nation’s deep recession formally ended, a new report released today says the sharp economic downturn continued to drive an unprecedented number of New Jersey families into poverty, forcing them to rely on such safety net programs as food stamps, reduced-cost school meals programs and Medicaid. Almost one-third of New Jersey’s children 5 and younger were living in low-income homes in 2011 — defined as earning at or below 200 percent of the poverty level, or about $37,000 for a family of three — according to the report, called ‘Kids Count,’ which was prepared by Advocates for Children of New Jersey and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national nonprofit and nonpartisan family research organization…”
- South Jersey counties see increase in poor children, By Rita Giordano, May 22, 2013, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Camden and Gloucester counties both saw an increase in the percentage of children living in poverty from 2010 to 2011, while in Burlington County, median family income dropped and more than half of the county’s families paid more than the recommended 30 percent of income for housing, according to a new study released Wednesday..”
SNAP and Work Requirements – Wisconsin
Report: Job training rule for food stamps would trim rolls by half, By Jason Stein, May 20, 2013, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Requiring a job — or basic training for one — from able-bodied participants in the state’s food stamp program would cause about half of them to drop out, a total of tens of thousands of people statewide and 14,500 in Milwaukee, according to a new report. The new projections come from the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office, which last week released its analysis of Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to require 62,700 able-bodied adults without children in Wisconsin’s FoodShare program to work or attend bare-bones job training…”