After Slashing Unemployment Benefits, McCrory Admin Wants To Increase Requirements

Back in 2013, the legislature passed a bill that slashed the maximum unemployment benefit by 34%. Now, with many in North Carolina still struggling to find work, the McCrory administration is looking for ways to make it more difficult for folks to collect unemployment. The Commerce department is behind a push to more than double the number of verified job searches that are required per week. From WUNC's article,

The state Commerce Department is behind a major jump in the number of weekly job searches claimants must have to collect benefits.

Dale Folwell is Assistant Commerce Secretary for Employment Security and he supports increasing weekly documented job searches from two to five.

“So we think this will increase the velocity of people getting off the unemployment rolls and looking for work," said Folwell.

Folwell says the current system was confusing for some people.  He says his office decided to cut the confusion and add searches at the same time.

“The law actually said you had to make two attempts but on two separate days," said Folwell.  "People were losing their benefits because they would come in and say they looked for two jobs on the same day.”

The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Unemployment Insurance agrees with the plan to increase the number of job searches.  But Bill Rowe, Director of Advocacy for the Justice Center, doesn’t.

“Having a hard and fast number sometimes is often used as a way to discourage or have people lose their unemployment benefits," said Rowe.

Rowe says most states don’t require five job searches a week. He says demanding an increase in work searches could actually discourage laid off workers and become cumbersome for employers, especially in communities where there are few jobs.