States Struggle to Handle Record Unemployment
February 11, 2010
Quick links+
A new report shows the need for more government stimulus as outlined in the IAM’s JOBS Now! Campaign.
The National Association of State Workforce Agencies survey shows as many as 35 states, in an effort to replenish their unemployment insurance trust funds, will be forcing employers to pay higher unemployment insurance taxes this year. The trust funds are used to pay out unemployment insurance claims to jobless residents.
The tax, in most cases, was automatically triggered due to record-high unemployment caused by the current recession. Other states enacted legislation to increase the level of wages subject to a payroll tax on employers.
The median increase is projected at 27.5 percent. “While it is normal for states to recalculate tax rates each year,” reads the report, “the magnitude of these rate increases for most states is unusual.”
“Nearly 30 million people – including those forced to work part-time, as well as those who want to work, but have given up on looking – are currently jobless across this country,” says IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “It is evident state treasuries can no longer afford to carry the brunt of this Grave Recession – but neither can businesses. A second stimulus package will relieve state budgets and free up funds for companies to hire more workers. Again, the only answer to the current jobs crisis is JOBS Now!”
Send a message to your Representative and Senators to adopt a second stimulus package. Click here to support JOBS Now!
