Which should have been on our radar the whole time:
In 2013, when state businesses owed the federal government $2.5 billion for jobless benefits paid during the recession, lawmakers overhauled the unemployment insurance system to pay back the debt more quickly. The burden fell mostly on people who had lost jobs, leaving North Carolina among the worst states nationwide for helping laid-off workers.
The debt to the federal government was repaid last August, and the state unemployment insurance reserve fund now is about $1.2 billion. Rowe and others say lawmakers should now consider reversing some of the cuts, but the McCrory administration wants to build the reserve to about $2.4 billion to weather future downturns in the state economy.
Do the math, folks. If McCrory reaches his target, that will equate to NC's unemployed workers sacrificing $4.9 billion in weekly benefit payments. Money that would have been injected directly into the state's sluggish economy, while helping families survive. Now do you have maybe the slightest inkling why some of us were somewhat jaded about the Connect NC Bond?
http://ift.tt/1qzmWrq
No comments:
Post a Comment