Ohio lawmakers view overhauling jobless aid, By Catherine Candisky, August 6, 2014, Columbus Dispatch: “A special Ohio House committee discussed sweeping changes to Ohio’s unemployment-compensation system as legislators opened hearings yesterday on how to repay a $1.4 billion debt to a federal jobless-benefits fund. The debt has become a drag on Ohio businesses, which face annual increases in the federal unemployment tax until the loan is repaid. The fifth such increase — to a total penalty of $105 per employee — is scheduled for employers’ 2015 tax bill…”
Tag: Jobless benefits
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
- House passes job-training bill, clearing for Obama, By Derek Wallbank, July 9, 2014, Bloomberg: Lawmakers criticized for a lack of productivity hailed an adult education and job training bill the U.S. House passed yesterday as evidence that Congress can get something done. The bill, which the House cleared for President Barack Obama’s signature on a 415-6 vote, authorizes $58 billion over six years for federal workforce development programs. It eliminates 15 programs still on the books, though most had become dormant in recent years. House lawmakers passed an earlier version of H.R. 803 last year. The Senate, after months of negotiations, passed an amended version in June. . .”
- Congress is finally doing something about long term unemployment, By Danielle Kurtzelben, July 10, 2014, Vox: “Job training plays a curious role in American politics. On the one hand, nothing is less controversial than calls for a better-skilled workforce. On the other hand, over the years federal training initiatives have attracted a — somewhat deserved — reputation as a backwater of inefficient spending and unaccountable programs. But on Wednesday the notoriously unproductive Congress has passed a compromise Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. It’s a revamping of the Workforce Investment Act, the Labor Department’s main job training initiative. . .”
Unemployment
- This is why it’s so hard to define unemployment, By Ylan Q. Mui, June 5, 2014, Washington Post: “What does it mean to be unemployed? Depends on what country you’re in.On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department is slated to release its monthly snapshot of the health of the labor market. Calculating the number of people who are unemployed seems like a pretty straightforward task. But the years since the Great Recession have highlighted the complexities of one of the country’s the most critical economic indicators. There is universal agreement that unemployed people meet two basic requirements: They don’t have a job, and they want a job. Those characteristics separate the unemployed from, say, your 90-year-old grandmother who is retired . . .”
- U.S. Payrolls Rose 217,000 in May, Unemployment at 6.3%, Nearly a 6-Year Low, By Victoria Stilwell, June 6, 2014, Bloomberg: “Payrolls pushed past their U.S. pre-recession peak for the first time in May, a milestone that’s been five years in the making. The 217,000 advance in hiring followed a 282,000 gain in April, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. It marked the fourth consecutive month employment increased by more than 200,000, the first time that’s happened since early 2000. The jobless rate unexpectedly held at an almost six-year low of 6.3 percent. ‘We’re seeing the continuation of solid payrolls gains, which is an accomplishment for the economy,’ said Laura Rosner, U.S. economist at BNP Paribas in New York . . .”