Payouts to jobless lagging State unemployment funds can't keep pace with demand

Nebraska's rate is much lower. Thanks to cut backs in the Employment Division, they can't keep up either.

http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2008/12/28/news/388238.txt

Sunday, December 28, 2008 9:18 AM EST

Payouts to jobless lagging
State unemployment funds can't keep pace with demand
BY PAUL HUGHES | REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

HARTFORD — More money is going out in unemployment checks to jobless workers than their former bosses are paying into the state's unemployment fund.

The rise in joblessness means the state's already beleaguered businesses are going to pay higher unemployment taxes in the new year.

The state Department of Labor is expected to assess employers an additional 1.4 percent on top of the usual unemployment taxes they must pay in 2009.

The move is a precaution to make sure the unemployment fund remains solvent. The last time the fund ran out of money to pay benefits was in the early 1990s. The state had to borrow from the federal government to bail out the fund back then.

Today, the state's 6.6 percent unemployment rate is the highest in 15 years. Unemployment offices are handling approximately 80,000 claims a week, an increase of 50 percent from last year.

The payouts from the unemployment fund are exceeding the unemployment taxes that the state government is collecting from employers.


FULL story at link.