Nathan Bussey lost his job with Hewlett-Packard three years ago.
Name: Nathan Bussey
Age: 33
Unemployed since: 2008
“I had only been engaged with my wife for about a month when I found out I was getting laid off.”
The Idaho Department of Labor estimates nearly 70,000 people in the state don’t have jobs. That doesn’t include thousands more who are underemployed or have stopped looking for work. This is the latest story in our “Jobless in Idaho” series, following several Idahoans in their search for work.
Nathan Bussey began working for Hewlett-Packard before he’d even graduated from college. He was still a student at Boise State University when he started out in the tech support call center in 1999. By 2005, he’d landed a job as a technical consultant, working on printer installations for Fortune 100 companies all over the country. Then, in 2008, he got bad news. He, like many others on his team, was being laid off.
Through a series of laws, the federal government has offered an additional safety net for workers who have been laid off. Extended unemployment benefit programs are in addition to individual state programs. In Idaho, someone who is laid off from their job — through no fault of their own — can qualify for up to 26 weeks of state unemployment insurance benefits. But because of the steep national unemployment rate, and the lack of jobs available, the federal government offers benefit extensions up to 73 weeks for jobless Idahoans. The maximum state and federal benefit in Idaho is 99 weeks. Continue Reading →
Laid-off workers in Idaho can collect up to 26 weeks of state unemployment insurance benefits.  Here are some of the requirements needed in order to qualify for receiving benefit payments:
You must be totally or partially unemployed through no fault of your own (if you’re fired or quit, you can’t qualify for benefits).
Be a U.S. citizen or legally authorized to work in the U.S.
Establish monetary entitlement to benefits by having sufficient earnings in the base period: You must have worked and been paid wages for employment in at least two of the quarters in your base period. You must have been paid at least $1,872 in wages in one of those quarters. The total wages paid in your base period must equal one and a quarter times your highest quarter wages.
You must be available for full-time work.
You must be able to perform full-time work.
You must be willing to actively seek full-time work.
Benefit payments to unemployed Idahoans vary based on salary and years in the workforce. The Department of Labor uses two calculations to determine the benefit amount and the duration of the benefit. It’s different for every person. The minimum benefit is $72 per week for ten weeks. The maximum benefit is $336 per week for 26 weeks.
Last week, the head of Idaho’s Labor Department encouraged state and federal lawmakers to vote against any further extensions of federal unemployment insurance benefits. Director Roger Madsen said he considers unemployment insurance to be one of this country’s most successful social programs, but believes extensions hold back business growth. You can read Madsen’s letter here.
We decided to look at how Idaho’s unemployment insurance program works and how it could be impacted by the end of federal extensions. Lets start with the basics. Continue Reading →
Fairfield's downtown farmer's market is organized by a couple who say they needed a new source of income after one of them lost a job.
StateImpact’srecent story about Fairfield, in Camas County, described the about-face the town has suffered due to the recession. What it didn’t talk about is the town’s water system. In short, it’s not great. Right now, a water pressure problem allows bacteria to build up, clogging meters, pipes and distribution lines. That can have some unhappy consequences, according to Carleen Herring, vice president of Region IV Development Association.
“They get these little globs of a biofilm, which, for lack of a better phrase, is slime,” she said. “So if you open your faucet in the dark of night to get yourself a glass of water, you’d better let it run for a few minutes or you’re going to have a glass full of ooze.” Continue Reading →
When I went to Camas County to report our recent story about Fairfield, I was thinking about numbers. The county is rural and small. That means it has a low population — about 1,100 people — which makes its unemployment rate a moving target. In August, unemployment in Camas County stood at 16.7 percent. Only Adams County had a higher rate, at 16.8. In September, the most recent month for which numbers are available, Camas County’s rate was a much better-sounding 11.8 percent.
I was thinking about all of this because of the general story idea I was aiming to follow. Idaho is somewhat unusual in that its unemployment rate has gone up since the summer of 2009. (That’s when the Great Recession officially ended, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.) Camas County’s unemployment rate reflects this post-recession rise. Continue Reading →
Earlier this week Idaho’s Department of Labor Director Roger Madsen asked state lawmakers and Idaho’s congressional delegation to oppose any further extension of federal unemployment insurance benefits.
Now, Republican Governor Butch Otter is weighing in (through his spokesman), after the Idaho Democratic Party said Madsen should resign. Here’s what The Idaho Statesman is reporting:
“The director has the governor’s full support and confidence,” said Mark Warbis, Otter’s communications director.
Otter and Madsen agreed after the last extension of federal benefits by Congress in July 2010 that they would not support another extension, Warbis said.
The current extension is set to expire next month. About 12,000 Idahoans are receiving those benefits. Some have already exhausted their jobless benefits.
Even while Idaho’s unemployment rate hovers at 9 percent and an estimated 68,000 people are out of work, there are 17,000 jobs in the state that are going unfilled, Warbis said. Some of that may be caused by people not having the correct skills for the jobs needed, he said. But he said the Department of Labor has several programs to help people get back to work.”
You can read the full story from The Statesmanhere, and listen to Boise State Public Radio’s story here.
These are the stories that got the most views, comments and shares this week. In case you missed one, we put them all in the same place for your reading pleasure! As always, we want to hear from you — comment on the stories and share them with your friends.
Labor Director Opposes Extending Unemployment Benefits: Idaho’s Department of Labor Director Roger Madsen said this week he’s against any further extension of federal unemployment insurance benefits, and encouraged Congress and Idaho’s legislature to vote against an extension. “Ending extended benefits will encourage many to re-enter the workforce where they will have a better chance of finding long-term employment.” Continue Reading →
Before the recession, rural Fairfield, Idaho was planning for growth. Now, it's a different story.
Idaho is one of a handful of states where the unemployment rate has gone up since the national recession ended more than two years ago. Numbers have soared to their highest levels in rural places, among them Camas County in central Idaho. This summer, local unemployment approached 17 percent. That’s a number that has left Fairfield, population 416 and the only town in Camas County, struggling for survival.
To really understand the kind of change that’s gone on in Fairfield since the start of the recession, you have to look back a little further – about a decade. That’s when the town got some gumption, and decided it wanted to grow. A key part of the plan was a business park just east of the town’s main street. Continue Reading →
Department of Labor Director Roger Madsen has been feeling some heat since Tuesday, when he voiced his opposition to the further extension of federal unemployment insurance benefits. On Wednesday, Idaho Democratic Party Chairman Larry Grant called for Madsen’s resignation in a statement guaranteed to raise hackles. Grant’s statement read, in part, “Madsen is advocating for the one percent (as all R’s do). It is actions by the one percent, such as these, that threw workers from the 99 percent into unemployment in the first place.”
This morning Director Madsen issued a statement of his own, restating his commitment to strengthening the state’s unemployment insurance program. “We are not Democrats or Republicans at the Idaho Department of Labor,” he said. “We respect all Idahoans including the employed, the unemployed and the state’s business owners.”
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