I am so confused about unemployment insurance. Can somebody explain it to me?
I thought business owners paid a premium to the states to provide a max 26-week unemployment insurance policy to employees. Isn't this a state program? And, if this part of the compensation is run like a true insurance program, presumably there was a pot of money accruing to be paid out on a rainy day. So, if a state is really hurting, employment-wise, what prevents a state from adding a temporary, beyond-26-week, supplemental policy, and structuring the cost appropriately? Why did this become a federal matter and is it being paid for with insurance premiums from employers ... or is it welfare, not insurance at all? And if it is essentially welfare, is there any reason not to make this a loan program rather than a welfare program, so that, in the end, it is at least cost neutral?
5 Extending unemployment insurance costs $56 billion over 10 years, or $5.6 billion/year.
I am so confused about unemployment insurance. Can somebody explain it to me?
I thought business owners paid a premium to the states to provide a max 26-week unemployment insurance policy to employees. Isn’t this a state program? And, if this part of the compensation is run like a true insurance program, presumably there was a pot of money accruing to be paid out on a rainy day. So, if a state is really hurting, employment-wise, what prevents a state from adding a temporary, beyond-26-week, supplemental policy, and structuring the cost appropriately? Why did this become a federal matter and is it being paid for with insurance premiums from employers ... or is it welfare, not insurance at all? And if it is essentially welfare, is there any reason not to make this a loan program rather than a welfare program, so that, in the end, it is at least cost neutral?
___________________________
I believe it’s paid some by the state, some by Federal.