YOUR VOICE, YOUR VOTE: Unemployment Insurance

ASK THE CANDIDATES: What will you do to help workers who have lost jobs or had hours reduced because of COVID-19?

• What is your plan to make sure the state’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) protects the unprecedented number of workers who have lost their jobs or seen their hours cut since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic?
• Do you think North Carolina should continue to provide less support than any other state to people who lose a job?
• Beyond the state’s UI program, how will you help make sure our food assistance program is flexible and fully fund foreclosure, eviction, and utility shut-off prevention programs to ensure people can put food on the table and stay safe in their homes?

Public policies like the unemployment insurance system, food assistance, and assistance with mortgage, rent, and utility payments can help communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn.

 

FACTS YOU CAN USE

• Over 1 million North Carolinians have filed claims for unemployment benefits since March 2020 and significant numbers have had their hours reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Every dollar in unemployment benefits can translate into $2 in stabilizing effect in the economy. But too few people receive Unemployment Insurance for too short a time (just a little more than eight weeks) and with too little in wage replacement.
• Even in good times North Carolina has one of the 10 highest rates of hunger in the country.
• Moratoriums on foreclosures, evictions, and utility shut-offs have or will expire leaving families with job loss or reduced wages at risk.