Seasons Greeting

May your heart be filled with hope and joy.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. 

Random Acts of Kindness

Inspired to spread good in the world after the tragic elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last week, people around the country are committing random acts of kindness in honor of the victims.  I read that on Twitter, hashtag #26Acts was created to honor the 26 people who lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School by spreading news of the random acts of kindness.

I don't follow Twitter, but I started my own personal pledge to committing random acts of kindness.  My first act was to put $26 dollars in a Salvation Army red kettle in honor of the teachers and children who died in Newtown.  I thougth it was fitting to start my kindness campaign with an honor to those who inspired the kindness acts.

I am usually not a spontaneous person and I usually plan everything I do a head of time, but I don't think you can plan random acts of kindness because you never know what situation will present itself - so I plan to be more aware of my surrounding and act when I see an opportunity.  I will keep you posted on how it's going.  In the meantime, get inspired and start your own acts of kindness right now.

FUTA

On December 10, 2012, Strategic Services on Unemployment and Workers’ Compensation, an association exclusively devoted to representing the interests of the business community on unemployment insurance and workers' compensation public policy issues, sent a letter to majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate, as well as the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, urging Congressional members not to allow an increase in the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) tax base or rate. The letter notes that state and federal payroll taxes are already increasing because of the record levels of UI claims from the Great Recession.

In addition to keeping FUTA tax rates at their current levels, the letter also urges Congress to prevent an extension in restrictions on states in adopting policies that would reduce the average weekly benefit amount in states that have insolvent UI trust funds as they seek state legislation to make their accounts solvent. The letter finally calls for Congress not to increase direct spending from UI trust fund accounts.

Successful Partnerships

At last week's Texas Workforce Solutions conference co-hosted by the Texas Workforce Commission and the International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP), Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Jane Oates had a simple message. She wanted the 1,400 attendees to know that accelerating training programs and helping get America back to work requires innovation and strong partnerships between the workforce system, employers and educators. During her keynote address, Oates shared success stories about states leveraging the national network of American Job Centers, local and regional partnerships, and federal resources to develop customized technical skills training to meet the needs of local employers and workers.

 

From the December 6, 2012 USDOL Newsletter

 

EUC Impact

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report this week assessing the impact of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program.

The CBO report estimates State and federal unemployment insurance programs have cost roughly $520 billion since 2008 and the number of workers receiving UI benefits peaked at 14.4 million in 2009. The cost of continuing EUC08 beyond 2012 will be the subject of intense debate in Congress as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations. CBO examined four extension options and estimated the cost of each:

Option 1: Fully extend the current EUC program and temporary provisions of the EB program for one year ($30 billion);

Option 2: Partially extend the current EUC program by providing at most 14 extra weeks of benefits for one year ($14 billion);

Option 3: Allow UI recipients to finish receiving up to 14 weeks of EUC benefits, depending on the number of weeks of benefits for which they will qualify at the end of December 2012 ($4 billion); and

Option 4: Extend the current EB program for one year, maintaining full federal funding and allowing states to more easily qualify for the program ($3 billion).

Although EUC08 is set to expire on December 29, 2012, CBO concludes preserving EUC08 through next year would add 300,000 jobs to the economy and the gross domestic product would be two-tenths of a percentage point higher in the fourth quarter of 2013.