Helping the Jobless
An editorial from the Winston-Salem Journal
The good news is that the state’s rising unemployment rate triggered a safety net that may catch about 40,000 jobless North Carolinians who’ve used up all their unemployment benefits in the past year. But the bad news is that this program is just a short-term solution to a growing problem. The new governor will have to work with state and local leaders to improve the economy and create more jobs.
The N.C. Employment Security Commission says that the program to provide extended benefits, paid for through a shared arrangement by state and federal governments, remains in effect as long as certain criteria are met. Those criteria include a high unemployment rate. Unfortunately, that shouldn’t be a problem. Economists are projecting the state’s jobless rate to hit at least 7.5 percent in 2009, Richard Craver reported recently in the Journal.
“There are more employers with hiring freezes than those hiring,” said Piers Clarkson of the Clarks Group of Winston-Salem. “There may be some thawing of the hiring freeze once the presidential election is over and we know who will be in the White House. But I don’t expect any significant interest in local hiring until 2009, perhaps well into 2009.”
Some of the unemployed have savings to get them through — what’s left after the economic crisis, anyway. Others don’t have any savings. Their dreams have died, and they’re turning to social-service agencies for help.
Some can turn to the state as well.
About 14 percent of the nearly 315,000 state residents counted as unemployed in August are eligible for up to 13 weeks of extended benefits, if they meet additional eligibility requirements. But even if they do so, they can receive the extended benefits only once. The program and others to help the unemployed are certainly needed, but what’s needed even more is a lot more jobs.
“We know there are a lot of people hurting out there,” said Larry Parker, a spokesman for the Employment Security Commission.
“North Carolina seems to have gotten hit later by the economy than other states in the Southeast, but we’re definitely feeling it now. ”
He got that right. News of company layoffs and closings are a broken record in North Carolina. A few years ago at least, a laid-off factory worker with the proper retraining stood a good chance of getting a decent job in another field. But now, with businesses across the board in trouble, there’s no guarantee that any laid-off worker will find another job, at least not in any timely manner.
That’s bad for them, and bad for North Carolina. And it’s all the more reason to vote in this year’s elections. Go for candidates who offer the best plans for improving the economy. And whichever candidates win, demand that they help create jobs.
—
Read the press release from the National Employment Law Project, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and Half in Ten on the September unemployment figures.
Tags: North Carolina
