Could Obama’s jobs bill help end jobless benefits as we know them?

[Better Believe It]

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Could Obama’s jobs bill help end jobless benefits as we know them?
By Zachary Roth
September 13, 2011

A popular idea in President Obama's new jobs bill could represent a step toward fundamentally transforming the existing system of federal jobless benefits. Some critics say such a move is long overdue--but others worry that a major overhaul could threaten a program that since the Depression has been a core component of the social safety net.

Obama's jobs measure, sent to Congress Monday, contains a provision that would encourage states to replicate a voluntary Georgia program that allows jobless workers to continue collecting unemployment benefits while training with potential employers.

The initiative was one of the few from the president's plan that drew an enthusiastic response from Republicans. After Obama talked up the idea in his speech to Congress last week, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the number two Republican in the House, noted in response that it had originally come from the GOP, and called it "something that we should be able to get to work on right away."

But Cantor and his party seem to see the idea as more than a short-term fix for unemployment. He described the proposed overhaul as "reforming the unemployment benefit program in this country"--a goal Obama had not mentioned in his speech. And Cantor used similar language when first pushing the idea back in 2009 in a jobs plan of his own, calling on Washington to "reform the unemployment system."

Read the full article at:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/could-obama-jobs-bill-help-end-jobless-benefits-150417721.html


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How Not to Solve the Jobs Problem
By Robert Kuttner
August 30, 2011

There is a lot of circumstantial evidence that President Obama is planning to include in his eagerly anticipated post-Labor Day jobs speech a variation on a truly lame state program called Georgia Works. The program, begun in 2003, pays people on unemployment insurance a small additional stipend, currently $240, if they agree to work 24 hours a week, for no wages, for a private employer while unemployed, in exchange for some form of training by the employer.

President Obama: “We’ve got to rethink how we do unemployment insurance. There is a smart program in Georgia. What they do is they say, all right, instead of you just getting unemployment insurance, just a check, what we’re going to do is we will give a subsidy to any company that hires you with your unemployment insurance so that you’re essentially earning a salary and getting your foot in the door into that company. And if they hire you full-time, then the unemployment insurance is used to subsidize you getting trained and getting a job.”

But that’s not how the program works at all. Basically, the company gets free labor while the person is receiving unemployment insurance. If the company does hire the person, there is no ongoing wage subsidy or training subsidy.

Obama is fearful that Republicans may block the next extension of unemployment insurance, and this Republican-style embellishment might be part of a bipartisan deal.

Read the full article at:

http://blog.prospect.org/robert_kuttner/2011/08/how-not-to-solve-the-jobs-prob.html


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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he believes there are some areas where his conference can work with Obama on policies to help get people back to work. In a statement, he said he agreed with Obama's suggestion earlier this week that states should get more control over infrastructure projects. Cantor also mentioned reforms to the unemployment system as an area where there might be some compromise.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/179317-expectations-low-for-august-jobs-figures


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Feeble President, Feeble Plans
Obama’s jobs plan: Go work for free!
by Robert Kuttner
September 2, 2011

On Wednesday, I posted an item titled “How Not to Solve the Jobs Problem.” The case in point is President Barack Obama’s embrace of a state program called Georgia Works, which tries to turn unemployment insurance into a kind of sing-for-your-supper “workfare” program.

Jobless workers in Georgia drawing unemployment compensation are encouraged to go work for private employers—for free—in exchange for some kind of training. They get a small onetime stipend of $240 as an inducement. The premise is that working for free will help them get a foot in the door and maybe get hired (if the employer hires). According to Georgia’s own statistics, however, only about 15 percent do.

But let’s drill deeper. Why is the administration embracing such a right-wing and futile program? Obviously, the problem in Georgia is the unemployment rate, of 10.1 percent, not the fact that unemployed workers lack a few weeks’ training for low-wage jobs.

.... sources close to the White House say the president and his political advisers are terrified that the Republicans will block an extension of unemployment insurance, except in exchange for draconian cuts in other social programs. They hope that if they extend this feeble olive branch, Republicans might go along. My sources, however, say no such deal with the Republicans has been struck.

Read the full article at:

http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=feeble_president_feeble_plans

[gateley]

1. Perhaps it might have, but we'll never know. Boehner just said NO. nt

[LonePirate]

2. Obama should have asked for two years of UI benefits when he gave the Rs two years of tax cuts

Also, this GA program scares me. I fear employers will fire current employees and replace them with these cheaper unemployed workers. Almost any program originating in a red state is often not created out of concern for the goodwill of society.

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. It depends on what the job is.

How many jobs can one truly learn enough to justify taking a full time position after just "training" for 24 hours for a few weeks?

At the end of the day, companies can really shoot themselves in the foot by firing qualified workers and replacing them with free temps. Then again, this day and age, they only ever seem to manage to the quarterly numbers, so I put nothing past them.

[SidDithers]

3. ROFL. Keep trying....

Unrec. :rofl:

Sid

[Tarheel_Dem]

4. +1

:rofl:

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. I am leery of this.

For example, take someone with a Master's degree. What exactly are they going to train them to do for 8 weeks (at 24 hours a week) that will translate to permanent employment? No employer is going to hire someone with an advanced degree for a job that one can learn in such a short period of time, but they will take their 8 weeks of flesh on the government for free.

I would love to hear examples of what this program entails. So far, all I have seen referenced is telemarketing in Georgia.