Victor Forberger

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Wisconsin Unemployment

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Victor Forberger

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ProPublica details perhaps the worst state in the nation for unemployment: North Carolina. A few highlights from the article. Some state unemployment systems have long been designed to exclude applicants. . . . Among the worst, historically and at present, is North Carolina. At the end of 2019 — when the economy was humming and pandemics were the stuff of horror fiction — fewer than 1 in 10 jobless people in North Carolina received…
Wisconsin Watch reviews the stories of several claimants facing incredibly long delays in the processing of their unemployment claims. Some perspective, however, is needed on what these stories reveal. First, the story reports that around 150,000 claimants are still waiting for their claims to be decided. The May 2020 jobs report indicates that the workforce in Wisconsin is just under 3.1 million. Some simple math reveals that the number of workers with outstanding claims waiting…
Recall that Wisconsin denies unemployment benefits to SSDI recipients. But, with the pandemic and the economic stimulus created in the CARES Act, it seemed that the disabled in Wisconsin should be eligible for federally-funded PUA benefits based on the statutory provisions in that act. For some reason, Wisconsin DWD decided the prohibition on eligibility in state law would govern this federal law. By mid-May, legislators were getting dozens to hundreds of inquiries regarding PUA-eligibility for…
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CBS 58 has a report about how Wisconsinites with a BAR are not receiving any of the $600 PUC payment despite guidance that they should receive at least $300 PUC payment each week. The key paragraph from the story: “We have received verification [from the US Dep’t of Labor] that if somebody has a BAR fine, which is a benefit amount reduction, they are not eligible to receive Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which is the…
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Jake has the 2019 gold standard numbers, and they are just terrible. Wisconsin’s rate of job growth started to decline in mid-2016, and has pretty much gone down since then, with the except of a Bubbly 6 months after the GOP Tax Scam was signed into law. But last year was a new depth, with barely more than 5,000 jobs added from December 2018 to December 2019, and we even slipped below 0 in…
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Right now, there are many, many unemployment claims being filed in Wisconsin. But, the problems folks in Wisconsin are having with their claims arise to a great degree from policy choices being made about how those claims should be processed and how the Department decides to enforce federal and state legal requirements. Last week, the NY Times Upshot examined claims data for all 5o states and concluded that, in general, states have made it harder …
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Unemployment claim-filing is up, way up. Initial Claim-filing data 2020 2019 ratio w/e 03/14 5,698 5,587 1.0 w/e 03/21 69,342 5,216 13.3 w/e 03/28 115,679 5,640 20.5 w/e 04/04 103,226 5,173 20.0 w/e 04/11 65,654 4,619 14.2 w/e 04/18 56,038 4,624 12.1 w/e 04/25 48,630 4,570 10.6 w/e 05/02 39,278 4,146 9.5 w/e 05/09 35,134 4,026 8.7 Source: https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/covid19/public/ui-stats.htm For the week ending May 16th, initial claims filed on Sunday alone (4,135) were more than…
Unemployment benefits are specifically geared to provide benefits when there is a sudden loss of work, including catastrophic and widespread job loss. Indeed, the story of how unemployment was started in Wisconsin bears this point out in detail. It is no accident that unemployment started in the Great Depression. So, the meltdown in unemployment systems in which phone systems and on-line systems are crashing and breaking is particularly noteworthy. Unemployment is supposed to be as…
On April 14th, the Department released some initial guidance on PUA benefits — the unemployment benefits available to those who do NOT qualify for regular unemployment benefits. As already noted, the Department will begin accepting PUA claims the week of April 21st. Note: Scammers have popped up relating to unemployment claims. While you are entitled to representation for any part of the unemployment filing process, you should be extremely cautious about anyone who wants…