Unemployment benefits filed by federal workers spike during gov’t shutdown

WASHINGTON, JAN 25– A total of 25,419 federal employees filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending Jan. 12, up from 10,454 in the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
During the same period last year, only 1,658 claims were filed. Federal employees file jobless claims under a separate program than regular state programs, and the figure is reported with a one-week lag.
While furloughed workers can collect unemployment benefit, the “essential” workers, who are required to work without pay and will likely receive back pay after the shutdown, are not eligible for unemployment benefits, the Labor Department told several states in an email, the CNN reported.
Some states, however, are going against the federal guidance and intend to offer unemployment benefits for all federal employees strained by the shutdown.
In meeting with Transportation Security Administration workers at the Sacramento International Airport last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom called the letter sent to states by the Labor Department “jaw-dropping and extraordinary.”
“So, the good news is, we’re going to do it, and shame on them,” Newsom said, reaffirming that essential workers will be able to receive unemployment benefits in his state.
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday in a statement that she is sending emergency legislation to the city council in order to expand unemployment benefits eligibility to essential workers.
Bowser said she sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta last week, urging the Labor Department to work with the D.C. government to make more federal workers eligible for unemployment insurance benefits, but the request was denied.
Vermont Governor Phil Scott also said on Tuesday that his state will treat essential employees the same as other furloughed employees in determining unemployment eligibility.
Besides filing for unemployment benefits, federal employees are turning to local food banks. Elizabeth Gilkey, director of development from the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank in Virginia, told Xinhua that her organization and partner agency pantries have seen an growing number of people coming to receive assistance over the past week.
“One of our partner agency pantries had 150 people coming in one day, who were coast guards or people impacted by the furlough,” Gilkey said.
She expects the number to go up. “As time goes on, people may go through that little bit of savings that they have or their credit cards or whatever, they’re going to need additional assistance.”
Economists expect the record-long shutdown will push the unemployment rate above 4.0 percent in January as the furloughed workers would be considered unemployed, the CNBC reported.
Kevin Hassett, chairman of White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNN in an interview Wednesday that U.S. economic growth in the first quarter could be “very close to zero” if the shutdown extends until end of March, though suggesting a rebound afterwards.
The shutdown, now in its 34th day, has affected a quarter of the federal government, forcing about 420,000 federal employees, who are deemed essential, to work without pay, and 380,000 others to take unpaid leave. Federal workers are set to miss their second paycheck Friday. – XINHUA