1/ Can't say how frustrated I am every time even good outlets like @WRAL & journalists like @cullenbrowder fail to note that North Carolina's #UnemploymentInsurance system is struggling due to 1) deliberate political choices & 2) systematic disinvestment. bit.ly/2O1JTBE
2/ The COVID-19 crisis has sparked an unprecedented number of claims in a short window, what with @NCCommerce reporting that it received 1.7m claims from 1.1m people between 3/15 & 7/2. Yet the system would have struggled to handle a claims volume similar to the 2008 recession.
3/ Why? As @ncbudgetandtax has noted, the state stopped providing administrative funding to the agency in SFY 2013. This forces the system to rely entirely on a limited, woefully outdated federal funding source that Congress has allowed to atrophy. ncjustice.org/publications/u…
4/ Consider that in FY 2019, North Carolina received a base allotment of $46.2 million in federal administrative funds to administer #UnemploymentInsurance, according to data from @USDOL. In FY 2007, the base allotment was $47.3 million (not adjusted for inflation). #ncpol
5/ While the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act will provide North Carolina with up to $30m in additional administrative funds, the state didn't receive the first tranche of aid until 4/6, which was about a month into the crisis.
6/ On top of all that, the state also had to stand up three new temporary emergency programs in a short period. Between 3/15 and 7/3, these programs have, according to @NCCommerce, paid out ~$3.9 billion in insurance benefits to unemployed North Carolinians. @NCeconomy
7/ Think about the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (PUA), which covers workers normally ineligible for #UnemploymentInsurance. Based on the latest @USDOL data, ~200,000 North Carolinians were receiving PUA. Absent PUA, these people would be receiving nothing.
8/ And @NCDES stood up the PUA program in about a month, despite unclear federal guidance that resulted in some people first having to file regular claims for which they would be rejected before filing for the right program.
9/ Yes, people have every right to feel angry about delays in processing claims, esp. given how essential #UnemploymentInsurance is to so many people. Anger should be directed to Congress & @NCLeg to demand adequate support of the system & its operations. Blame lies there.
10/ Meanwhile, all the temporary federal programs are masking how miserly North Carolina's regular #UnemploymentInsurance system has become due to deliberate choices made by the @NCLeg back in 2013. #ncpol propublica.org/article/how-no…
11/ In late 2019, the average insurance check was ~$275/week, with a maximum benefit of $350/week. Under the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (PUC) program, all checks are topped up by $600/week. This would make the average weekly benefit ~$875/week, the max $950/week.
12/ Absent Congressional action, PUC will expire at the end of the month, with benefits returning to the regular state amounts of no more than $350/week. Even people normally ineligible for regular state insurance & receiving PUA will lose the PUC supplement.
13/ North Carolina is tied with FL for offering the fewest weeks of regular unemployment insurance compensation in the country. A person here can claim no more than 12 weeks of compensation, while most states offer a maximum of 26 weeks. (NC did, too, prior to 2013.) #ncpol
14/ The federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program allows people who exhaust regular benefits to receive 13 more weeks of insurance. Yet because NC's max duration is so low, people here will receive a max of 25 weeks of aid, vs. 39 weeks in most states.
15/ Yes, North Carolina allows for benefit duration to rise if the statewide unemployment rate increases, but the trigger mechanism is broken. The earliest the duration could rise is in Jan. 2021, even though the unemployment rate has tripled since March & is at a 44-year high.
16/ The media should cover the problems facing people trying to navigate an overwhelmed #UnemploymentInsurance because they are real & serious. But ignoring the causes only serves to direct anger away from those responsible for the mess & who have the power to fix them. #ncpol
17/ The media also should note how despite all the problems, North Carolina has demonstrated that it is administratively & financially feasible to operate an #UnemploymentInsurance system that provides better wage replacement to more workers for a longer period of time.
18/ If all this can be done on the fly in the midst of a crisis of unprecedented magnitude, what could be done with an actual, orderly planning process? #ncpol #NCeconomy
19/ While it is important for elected leaders like @NC_Governor & appointed officials like those at @NCDES to take responsibility for problems, I don't know why they seem unwilling to take credit for the successes that have been achieved at the same time.
20/20 Instead, we seem trapped in a stale 1990s debate in which Republicans carry on about welfare & the "undeserving" while Democrats cower in fear of offending some mythical swing voter & instead offer the meekest of tweaks. If you can't speak forcefully now, when?
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