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I'm a Minnesota Girl, living in the south. I tell my friends I try not to talk and think like a Yankee, but sometimes I slip up!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Tougher to be Unemployed in 9 states





Wisconsin added a "waiting week".... we've always had that in Florida. They also denied benefits to anyone filing for unemployment who fails a drug test. We're much more aggressive in Florida; we're going to make anyone who applies for any type of state aid take a drug test at their own expense. Wisconsin's unemployment is only 7.6%.


South Carolina is slashing weeks of unemployment from 26 to 20. They're also designating any employer who operates 36 weeks a year or less as "seasonal", making their layoff workers ineligible. At 10.5%, they have the 5th highest unemployment in the land.

Rhode Island (for some reason, the 3rd highest in unemployment at 10.8%) has a new calculation for unemployment that will reduce average benefits by $100 a week.

Michigan, at 10.5%, and Missouri, at 8.8%, are reducing weeks from 26 to 20, just like SC.

Indiana's new formula cuts UE from $283 to $220, and they added the drug provision as well. They're at 8.3% unemployment.


Illinois, at 9.2%, and Arkansas, at 8.1% have reduced benefits by one week, from 26 to 25. Arkansas has capped benefits at $451 (which seems like a fortune to Florida workers, at $275)

Florida wanted to see "how low can you go"...at 10.6%. It's at 23 weeks as long as Florida is above 10.5%, however, one week drops off for every .5% reduction; which means that workers will get only 12 weeks if we ever return to 5%. However, given that we have been too busy with anti-abortion and restricting voter rights legislation, we didn't pass any jobs bills while the legislature was in session.

1 comment:

Serena said...

Good Lord, it's getting so people who need help the most aren't going to be able to get it. There are so many budget items besides Unemployment that can be tinkered with.