Better jobless benefits plan
MLHS Statement:
“A plan to create a work-sharing program, restore jobless benefits and prohibit discrimination against the unemployed would go a long way to restoring common sense in the state’s Unemployment Insurance system.
House Bill 4619 by Rep. Jim Ananich, D-Flint, would restore the basic period of unemployment back to 26 weeks. It was cut to 20 weeks earlier this year.
Another bill introduced last spring by Ananich, House Bill 4516, would create a work-sharing plan advocated by Gov. Rick Snyder in his workforce message last week. The League also endorsed this idea in a recent paper, Falling Short: Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Compares Poorly with Other Midwestern States. That report found that though Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the Midwest, it has the weakest benefits.
Injecting flexibility into the system with a work-sharing program just makes sense. It will help prevent layoffs and keep workers on the job.
Yet another bill, House Bill 4675, would prevent employers from discriminating against the unemployed by rejecting applications from anyone without a current job. With long-term unemployment at a record high, it just doesn’t make sense to punish workers who are out of a job through no fault of their own.
These bills would strengthen the unemployment insurance system and are a good alternative to Senate Bill 806 that passed the Senate last week and would further restrict benefits.
We know that unemployment insurance helps the economy when it is ailing. We must not cut away any more of this vital safety net.”
These comments may be attributed to Michigan League for Human Services Policy Director Karen Holcomb-Merrill.
The Michigan League for Human Services is a statewide, nonprofit and nonpartisan research and advocacy organization, dedicated to achieving economic security for all in Michigan.
Comments (1)
[...] We do wish Gov. Snyder had called for restoring the six weeks of UI benefits that the Legislature cut earlier this year, however. Unemployment may have gone down slightly in recent months, but Michigan still has a long way to go and his support for raising the maximum weeks of state-funded benefits back up to 26 would go a long way toward enabling it to happen. [...]