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New Claims Break Jobless Safety Net
State Has Borrowed $420 Million to Keep Checks Flowing to Jobless
BY NICK MCCORMACThe ranks of jobless South Carolinians have swollen to record levels, breaking the state’sunemployment safety net with long waits for benefits and mounting state debt.At 12.1 percent in June, South Carolina’s unemployment rate was fourth highest in thenation and a new record. The state’s previous unemployment high, 11.4 percent, wasreached in 1983 and equaled in March.Since then new jobless claims have continued to rise, with swells of people causing backups at unemployment offices and help lines across the state.That rush has led to delays in payments to new applicants, who face several weeks of waiting after filing for unemployment before they start receiving benefits.“The application and evaluation process takes long enough, but the sheer volume of newapplicants has brought things to a crawl,” says Allen Larson, unemployment insurancedirector for the S.C. Employment Security Commission.An average of 9,000 to 10,000 new jobless claims per week was filed over the pastmonth, according to Steve McLaughlin, a labor market analyst for the commission.About 6,000 new applications were received weekly over the same period last year,McLaughlin says.That’s an increase of at least 50 percent.It remains to be seen whether federal stimulus money the state is receiving as part of theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act will help spur job growth and cut the number of new jobless claims.In the meantime, the demand on the overburdened unemployment system is punching a big hole in the state’s coffers.Every week, the Employment Security Commission is distributing $30 million to $33million in jobless benefits to about 130,000 people across the state.Of that money distributed weekly, $11 million comes from federal benefits. The restcomes from the state.The state’s payout is $10 million more than at the same time last year.Again, a spike of some 50 percent.
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