When Congress acted to renew federal extended unemployment benefits last week, many in the jobless ranks were looking for extra help.
Tom Edwards of Greensburg, like many others, had been under the impression from all that he heard and read leading up to Congress' action that he would be eligible for a second 13-week period of extended unemployment compensation. Not so.
"I'm not looking for a handout. I'm looking for a helping hand," said the 44-year-old retail manager, who has been searching for a new job for the better part of a year with no luck. "There are a lot of people who are like me who want to work but can't find it in this environment."
State officials say there have been many others like Edwards with questions about their benefits under Congress' action last week.
"There's clearly some confusion about the exact terms of the act, primarily related to folks who had already exhausted the temporary 13-week federal extension who felt there would be additional money for them. That is not the case," said David Chandler, director of the state Department of Labor and Industry's unemployment call center in Duquesne.
Chandler said Thursday that the number of telephone calls at the Duquesne center - typically heavy at the beginning of a new quarter and new year - has been even heavier with the hundreds of people inquiring about the terms of the benefits extension.
In Edwards' case, he had exhausted his original 26 weeks of state unemployment compensation and had two weeks of federal extended unemployment benefits left on Dec. 28, the date federal legislation authorizing the extended benefits expired. Although new legislation adopted by Congress last week will retroactively pay him for the two weeks of extended benefits he had remaining, after that, he is on his own.
Also watching what Congress would do was John Laslo of Bethel Park, laid off from his job at a local logistics company and unable to find a new job since last February. He, like Edwards, hoped legislation would help those who already had exhausted their 26 weeks of state benefits and the 13-week period of extended benefits with another 13 weeks of benefits as they continued their job hunts.
"I was hoping they would pick me up," Laslo said, "but I really didn't expect it."
Laslo, who is on the board of the Pennsylvania Professional Employment Network, a support group for area unemployed white-collar professionals, said many in the group were uncertain of what their eligibility would be under the new legislation until a representative from the state unemployment compensation office addressed the group.
Whoever had been in the middle of the 13-week federal extension period, like Edwards, will be eligible to receive the benefits for the weeks they had remaining when benefits were cut off Dec. 28. Those applying for benefits now will be eligible for the regular 26 weeks of state benefits, as well as the 13-week federal extension.
But for those who had exhausted both the state and federal benefits, there is not another bite at the apple.
Only people in a handful of states deemed to have especially high unemployment rates, including Alaska and Washington, will be eligible for a second 13-week period of extended federal aid.
For those who lose their jobs this month and beyond and begin receiving state unemployment benefits, the 13-week federal extension will be available through May 31, with the last payments being received through the week ending Aug. 30.
Meanwhile, to keep the unemployment benefits flowing, a payroll tax began Jan. 1 for employees at companies that pay unemployment compensation insurance. For the first time since 1996, employees are paying the wage tax to bolster the state's declining unemployment compensation fund.
Employees are being assessed 20 cents on every thousand dollars they earn. An employee earning $50,000 in 2003 will pay $10 to the unemployment fund.
Employers, meanwhile, are paying a 3.6 percent surcharge on the unemployment compensation contributions they make for each employee. This averages out to be about $34 per employee.
According to the state Department of Labor and Industry, the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund balance was on pace to decline to $1.7 billion by the end of 2002, down from $2.3 billion at the end of 2001.
"The fund is still strong, but it was necessary to raise the taxes to keep it from depleting too quickly in 2003," said John Curry, spokesman for the Department of Labor and Industry. The department will review the situation later this year, he said, to determine whether to keep the tax increases in place.
The new tax is projected to raise $98 million this year. In total, the state expects to collect $1.6 billion in unemployment compensation taxes during the year, while paying out roughly $2.4 billion.
