- Jobless benefits wrongly denied, By Marc Lifsher, February 25, 2014, Los Angeles Times: “Hundreds of thousands of jobless Californians last year appealed decisions of the troubled Employment Development Department, adding to months of delays in getting unemployment benefits. After holding hearings, administrative law judges at the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board rejected many of the EDD’s cursory, highly technical decisions. They threw out or revised more than half of the earlier denials, belatedly awarding long-sought assistance of up to $450 per week. The lengthy appeals added one more layer of woe for the state’s jobless to troubles at the EDD that included unanswered phone calls, glitchy computers and confusing paperwork…”
- Report: Average jobless benefit has fallen by 18.5 percent, By Richard Craver, February 20, 2014, Winston-Salem Journal: “The average benefit amount for unemployed North Carolinians has dropped by 18.5 percent since a state law went into effect July 1 that reduced the maximum weekly amount and number of weeks, an advocacy group said Thursday. The average weekly amount was $301.89 in June, with a maximum amount of $535, according to the left-leaning N.C. Budget & Tax Center. The cuts approved by the General Assembly lowered the maximum weekly amount to $350. By December, the average weekly amount had fallen to $245.98. That meant the average claimant received about $224 less in monthly benefits compared with June…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty