1/ In the week ending 8/22, North Carolina received 12,880 initial claims for regular state #UnemploymentInsurance, down from 17,388 the week before. A year ago, the total number of initial claims was 2,877. #NCeconomy
2/ Additionally, North Carolina received 8,261 initial claims for the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program, which covers certain workers normally ineligible for unemployment insurance. The figure a week earlier was 10,360. (NC began accepting PUA claims on 4/24.)
3/ And, last week, North Carolina received 185,146 continuing claims for regular #UnemploymentInsurance, along with 168,171 continuing claims for PUA. #NCeconomy
4/ The similarity in initial & continuing claims figures for the regular UI and PUA program illustrates how many workers normally are excluded from the #UnemploymentInsurance system. Absent the #CARESAct, the people claiming PUA would not be receiving insurance payments.
5/ Last week, too, North Carolina received 208,596 claims for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program (PEUC), which allows people who exhaust their regular benefits to claim up to 13 more weeks of benefits. A week prior, the number of claims was 201,964. #NCeconomy
6/ Since June, the weekly number of PEUC claims in North Carolina has grown, on average, by 19,025 claims/week. Over that span, the number of PEUC claims in North Carolina has averaged 125,546 per week. Absent the #CARESAct, these people largely would be on their own. #NCeconomy
7/ A North Carolina worker who exhausts PEUC then could receive up to 9.6 weeks of Extended Benefits (EB). In the week ending 8/8, which is the most recent one with data, North Carolina handled 6,298 EB claims, up from 5,545. This likely will increase in coming weeks. #NCeconomy
8/ North Carolina's short maximum benefit duration means that job losers in late March & April have exhausted or are about to exhaust their regular benefits. If NC set max. benefits at 26 weeks, as most states do and as NC did pre-2013, unemployed workers would be better off.
9/ Workers who lost their jobs in late March exhausted their regular #UnemploymentInsurance benefits in mid-June & will exhaust their PEUC benefits in early September. (Note, too, that the remaining #CARESAct benefits expire at the end of the year.) #ncpol
10/ This is not an accident. It is the predictable outcome of deliberate policy choices made by the @NCLeg
back in 2013. It is a feature of the state system, not a bug. #ncpol propublica.org/article/how-no…
back in 2013. It is a feature of the state system, not a bug. #ncpol propublica.org/article/how-no…
11/ Even more mind-blowing is the fact that elected officials like @ThomTillis who helped create this unfortunate situation campaign on it as being an accomplishment that helps unemployed North Carolinians! #ncpol theintercept.com/2020/08/09/sen…
12/ These policy choices have disparate racial impacts, as unemployed Black workers are less likely than other unemployed workers to collect #UnemploymentInsurance payments, esp. in states with restrictive benefit laws like North Carolina. #ncpol propublica.org/article/black-…
13/ According to @NCCommerce, North Carolina paid out $7.1 billion in #UnemploymentInsurance between 3/15 & 8/26. That includes $405 million in PUA, $356 million in PEUC, & $4.7 BILLION in Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (PUC) benefits, which topped up checks by $600/week.
14/ The week of 7/25 was the last one for which the PUC was payable. The expiration is estimated to cut the average weekly benefit in NC by 71%, falling to $244/week from $874/week. The collective loss would translate to $364 million/week. #NCeconomy tcf.org/content/commen…
15/ The loss of the PUC supplement is resulting in pronounced hardship for workers across the state who are unable to return to due to the fallout from the #COVID19 crisis, as @sophiekasakove & others have reported for @TheHerald_Sun. #NCeconomy heraldsun.com/news/coronavir…
16/ The Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) program announced by the Trump Administration is no substitute for the PUC supplement. The program is based on the appearance of doing something without doing much at all. #SaveThe600 tcf.org/content/commen…
17/ This doesn't mean that @NC_Governor is wrong to apply for the assistance, but people need to be realistic about how little the program will do, especially when compared to the PUC supplement. heraldsun.com/news/politics-…
18/ Among its flaws, the LWA program has capped funding, which would be exhausted within a few weeks given the scale of unemployment in the US. PUC, in contrast, provided a set benefit for every week a claimant is eligible. #SaveThe600
19/ And, of course, the LWA provides much less assistance. For those lucky enough to qualify, the supplement will be $300 or $400/week as compared to $600/week provided by the PUC program authorized under the #CARESAct. #SaveThe600
20/ The LWA program simply confuses the situation & leaves unemployed workers to fend for themselves. Congress must, at a minimum, extend the PUC program ASAP with retroactive payments, as @BarnettNed
explained in @HeraldSun. #ExtendUI #SaveThe600 heraldsun.com/opinion/articl…
explained in @HeraldSun. #ExtendUI #SaveThe600 heraldsun.com/opinion/articl…
21/ The LWA proposal is a tacit admission that that the labor market is in horrendous shape, which is why workers are struggling. The problem isn't that PUC made people "lazy," which is just what recent research has found. There aren't enough jobs. news.yale.edu/2020/07/27/yal…
22/ Sadly, this is what one would expect from federal & state policymakers who are unconcerned with the economic crisis, lack a basic understanding of how the UI system works, & have endeavored for years to compromise the system's ability to deliver meaningful aid in a crisis.
23/ On a positive note, @NC_Governor recognizes this & has called on @NCLeg to increase the max. weekly benefit amount & max. benefit duration. Yet those changes, while very important, will not even restore benefits to their pre-2013 levels. #ncpol heraldsun.com/news/coronavir…
24/ More systematic reform of the state's #UnemploymentInsurance benefit structure is needed--reforms like those detailed by @asirota in @NCPolicyWatch. #ncpol pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2020/08/22/fou…
25/25 One legacy of the #CARESAct is that it shows that it is financially & technically feasible to provide more generous #UnemploymentInsurance payments to more people for a longer period of time when state & federal policymakers want to & are willing to work together.
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