Friday, February 7, 2014

Unemployment Insurance in North Carolina

Well, it finally happened to me. After 45 years of working I got laid off. It happened in October and with very little notice. I was not prepared. However, every cloud has a silver lining and this one had a few. First, my old firm contracted with me to finish the projects I was working on when I got laid off. So, I had steady work until Thanksgiving. Then, since no one hires anyone in December I decided to use that month to rest and recuperate and prepare for 2014. We restarted the Loudoun Consulting website, got new business cards and updated resumes. And, we spent a week in the Bahamas and a week skiing in West Virginia and some travel to various family members to round out the Holidays. I also signed up for unemployment. Something I had never done. In North Carolina it is very easy to do. There's a website. Answer some questions, keep track of where you are applying and every week submit a form that says you are still unemployed. The trick is, unless you have a ton of savings you cannot live on the unemployment insurance weekly stipend. The maximum number is $350 per week before taxes. The maximum time you can draw is 20 weeks. Total $7000 and then I guess you rob banks! I'm not sure how the numbers were arrived at but I do know that NC owes the Federal government a ton of money that they had to borrow when unemployment was at its peak. The state raised the premium it charges business and lowered the benefit with the goal of reducing that debt. And then they spend the rest of the time explaining that by doing this it will encourage people to get off unemployment (well that is definitely true!) and perhaps take a job that is less than ideal. I ended up thinking of my unemployment payment as "mad money". I mean it didn't cover a car payment or my utilities. We could pay for groceries with it. Without savings, I'm not sure what would have happened. Certainly we would not have been able to make house payments, credit card payments, car payments, insurance payments. I worked very hard to find a new position and I was very fortunate in that I secured a new consulting job after 10 weeks. But if I had been looking for a full time job I would still be looking. I also happen to work in a field where my specialty is in demand. I'm happy to be a consultant / contractor. The new job I have is for 18 months and then I will need to repeat the process. But, I will know that my 18 months are up and be able to plan for the that event. Maybe one more and then I can retire. What about people who aren't as prepared? How does someone with kids in college deal with this situation? Why have we as a nation decided that people who aren't working are lazy? Why do we begrudge giving a helping hand to those who got stuck in an economy not of their making? If we don't give people a helping hand when they need it, what are they supposed to do? People should not have to give up their lifestyle or go on welfare or pull kids out of school or have their credit ruined because they get laid off - unless they got laid off for stealing! You know, 150 years ago if a family was in trouble, people would come together and help each other until that family was back on its feet. We were a smaller nation and the numbers weren't so large and it wasn't as hard to do. Now, we need government to act as the honest broker and we seem to be convinced that our government cannot do anything right because its too big or wasteful. Well, guess what? Our government is us! It's not a machine. Its people just like you and me who are trying to do the right thing for the most part. Whether its unemployment insurance, health insurance or our military, the government has to be that honest broker. But - we as a nation have to make a decision on how we are going to treat our friends and neighbors who fall on hard times. Do we help them with meaningful support until they are back on their feet or do we just go through the motions?

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