CBPP: Conference Agreement Far Better For Unemployed Workers and UI System Than Original House Bill

[ProSense]

Conference Agreement Far Better For Unemployed Workers and UI System Than Original House Bill

By Hannah Shaw and Chad Stone

The conference agreement on legislation that continues federal emergency unemployment insurance (UI) gives unemployed workers a far better deal than UI legislation that the House bill passed last December. It also rejects extreme proposals in the House bill that would have changed the essential character of the UI system, which policymakers created in 1935 to provide financial assistance to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

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The Conference Agreement

The conference agreement extends the temporary EUC program and full federal financing of the permanent EB program (half of which is normally financed by the states) through December 31, 2012.

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Table 1 below shows how the number of weeks available under EUC would change under the agreement; Table 2 shows the maximum number of weeks available when 26 weeks of regular state UI and EB are included. As shown in the tables:

• From March through May — The agreement maintains at least the current level of federal emergency UI benefits for all states. In states with an unemployment rate above 8.5 percent that continue to get EB, 99 weeks would be available, just as they are now. In states with unemployment above 8.5 percent that lose EB, the number of weeks would fall to 79, though workers who had not already received EB would qualify for an additional ten weeks of EUC Tier 4 benefits (for a total of 89 weeks). The long-term unemployed in states with unemployment rates below 8.5 percent would be in the same situation they are in now.
  
  
• From June through August — New, higher unemployment rate triggers come into play for Tiers 2 through 4 of EUC. The new trigger for Tier 2 (which has no trigger under current law) will cause unemployed workers in states with unemployment rates below 6 percent to lose 14 weeks of benefits. Workers in states with unemployment rates below 7 percent and 9 percent would lose Tier 3 or Tier 4 benefits, respectively. The table shows differences between states with EB and without it, but EB benefits are unlikely to be available in most states after May 2012. [6]
  
  
• From September through December — The maximum number of weeks of EUC benefits will fall by at least six weeks in all states as Tier 1 of EUC shrinks from 20 weeks to 14. The 19 weeks in Tiers 3 and 4 are rearranged: four weeks are shifted from Tier 3 to Tier 4. Current projections suggest that very few, if any, states will meet the criteria for offering EB after September 2012.

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No Major Changes to Underlying UI System

The December House bill included a number of provisions that would have permanently damaged the UI system by changing its fundamental nature and making it much harder for otherwise-qualified workers to receive benefits when they are laid off through no fault of their own. [7] One provision would have made laid-off workers ineligible for UI unless they had a high school diploma or a certificate of General Educational Development (GED) or were "enrolled and making satisfactory progress in classes" leading to one. This onerous proposal would have denied UI benefits to hundreds of thousands of workers — many of them middle-aged — who have worked hard, played by the rules, and effectively paid UI taxes for years before being laid off.[8]

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http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3686

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[SunsetDreams]

2. Wow thanks for posting that, excellent read