Fellow Michiganders, if you’ve been out of work for a while, you’ve got some extra assistance coming! It’s a bit controversial, but isn’t spiciness part of what makes the meal delicious? So pull up a chair, grab your fork, and let’s dive into the meat of this issue!
Here are Five Fast Facts on Michigan’s expansion to unemployment benefits:
- ❓ What Changes - Gov. Whitmer signed a bill that bumps unemployment checks from $362 per week up to $614 per week over the next three years, and your timeframe for getting them goes from 20 weeks up to 26 weeks. It could benefit as many as 88k residents. Or, if this government program goes as usual, more like 800k… 😉
- 📈 Roadmap - It won’t be all at once. The benefit increases by $84 every year until 2028, and then it will increase based on inflation. So it would figure that inflation will probably come down right about then.
- 👀 Looking Around - We’re one of only a dozen states that has unemployment benefits for less than 26 weeks, so this puts us on par with our neighbors. Howdy, neighbors!
- 🔍 Back In The Day - The 20-week limit was put in place back in 2011. The idea was that it provided more urgency for people to get back into the workforce, and helped fill job openings faster.
- 🤔 Not So Sure About That - There are some who weren’t fans of this change. The MI Small Business Association was against it, saying it’s once again going to encourage people to stay unemployed for longer, meaning job openings stay open longer, too (they pointed to past history as proof). Don’t worry, they’re keeping an eye on it to see how things go.
🔥Bottom line: This is always a tricky one. Obviously, we want people who need help to get it! You might be out of a job through no fault of your own, and this might be just the thing to help you survive until you get another one. At the same time, taxpayers around the state are hurting, too, and this is just going to cost more money for everyone. It’s a tough balance, which is probably why things keep going back and forth every few years.
What do you think of this change?
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