Each state has its own criteria for who is eligible to receive benefits and how much. But under the stimulus bill, the federal government would offer a $7 billion carrot to states that cover certain categories of workers, like part-timers and people in training programs.
In addition to adding staff, Employment Security has shifted paperwork to other staff so the intake agents can spend more time on the phones, increased efforts to schedule mass-application sessions with workers involved in large layoffs, and launched a project to improve the Web-based application system. Additional staffing and technology solutions also are being researched.
The program could pay up to 13 additional weeks of benefits, depending on the state's unemployment rate over the next few months. To be eligible, workers must have first used up their regular and emergency unemployment benefits.
To understand the debate, it’s important to know where the number of jobs reported as being open comes from. Each month, The Conference Board, a New York-based nonprofit economics think tank, releases a report on the number of job vacancies in each state.
The report is an estimate. But it is intended to be an indicator of the job market, said June Shelp, a Conference Board vice president. The board collects online job ads and eliminates duplicates to arrive at its number.
In December, the state lost 22,000 jobs — 1,400 in construction and 2,100 in manufacturing. Construction — where an unprecedented boom took place between 2005 and 2007 — has lost jobs for 14 straight months. Manufacturing has lost them for nine consecutive months, the Employment Security Commission reported.
The Department of Employment Security budget is by no means a lock. With the rest of the budget it goes to the Legislature. And, economic principles could also have an impact. An end to the recession and a return to job growth could mean the supply and demand shifts the other way: reduce the supply as the demand grows smaller.
In addition to adding staff, Employment Security has shifted paperwork to other staff so the intake agents can spend more time on the phones, increased efforts to schedule mass-application sessions with workers involved in large layoffs, and launched a project to improve the Web-based application system. Additional staffing and technology solutions also are being researched.
The program could pay up to 13 additional weeks of benefits, depending on the state's unemployment rate over the next few months. To be eligible, workers must have first used up their regular and emergency unemployment benefits.
To understand the debate, it’s important to know where the number of jobs reported as being open comes from. Each month, The Conference Board, a New York-based nonprofit economics think tank, releases a report on the number of job vacancies in each state.
The report is an estimate. But it is intended to be an indicator of the job market, said June Shelp, a Conference Board vice president. The board collects online job ads and eliminates duplicates to arrive at its number.
In December, the state lost 22,000 jobs — 1,400 in construction and 2,100 in manufacturing. Construction — where an unprecedented boom took place between 2005 and 2007 — has lost jobs for 14 straight months. Manufacturing has lost them for nine consecutive months, the Employment Security Commission reported.
The Department of Employment Security budget is by no means a lock. With the rest of the budget it goes to the Legislature. And, economic principles could also have an impact. An end to the recession and a return to job growth could mean the supply and demand shifts the other way: reduce the supply as the demand grows smaller.
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