Shipp Says Unemployment Numbers Belie Growing Poverty
We need to change how we do business
August 21, 2014 - Robbin Shipp, Democratic candidate for Labor Commissioner said today that Georgia's unemployment rolls are beginning to swell with people who live in poverty.
"This week's news of Georgia's rising unemployment rate reveals only part of the terrible story. What isn't being discussed is the shift from people who once collected unemployment to now collecting welfare benefits," Shipp said.
Shipp said the current Georgia labor commissioner was a champion of shortening the maximum period an individual is able to receive unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to a sliding scale of 14-20 weeks and tied the maximum receipt period to a 9.25 percent unemployment rate.
The law that took effect in 2012 was designed to repay $746.8 million Georgia borrowed from the federal government to meet its unemployment insurance obligations during the recession. But that borrowing was not the fault of Georgians who lost their jobs.
For a decade, when the economy was healthier, businesses were offered a tax break. When the economy soured, instead of restoring businesses' share of unemployment payments, Butler worked to shorten the unemployment payment period to workers who had lost their jobs.
"While Mark Butler boasts of paying down a federal loan our state owed for unemployment, he did it on the backs of Georgia's families," said Shipp. "Now, in this wake, I believe we are seeing a rise of the chronically unemployed and an increase of families forced onto welfare," Shipp said. "We are likely to have bigger problems than simply a rising unemployment rate. A trap is being set for Georgia families."
In the most recent figures available, in 2013, Georgia ranked sixth in the nation of states with the highest percentage of children living in poverty. In 2012, Georgia ranked 11th.
"We need to make changes in the way we do business in Georgia. I believe it possible to grow our businesses without pushing our families into poverty," said Shipp. "It's time we invest in our human capital through education and training and by providing a livable wage and a reasonable safety net when people lose their jobs through no fault of their own."
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