Benefits for Main Street

A $154B bill is headed for volley on the Senate floor, earmarked for new construction and education spending, where the government hopes to create new jobs and prevent further job losses. Half of this bill's funding is slated to extend programs for 'Main Street' poor and unemployed through June. Being that the latest report from the Labor Department details December's 85,000 nationwide job cuts, this bill highlights not only the massive destimulation of the economy but is also evidence for improved jobless benefits for the seven plus million Americans forced into unemployment since December of 2007.

Jobless benefits provided by both a worker’s state and former employer can range from a pittance to a mountain of money. In our no-hire economy, many on the less fortunate end of this spectrum now face expired state benefits and exhausted severance. President Obama has just signed into law a two-month unemployment benefits extension, evidence that state benefits are, in fact, expiring throughout the country, forcing a great number of Americans into dire financial straits.

Not government-regulated, company-paid severance benefits for some were nonexistent and for others an abroad vacation and renovated kitchen. If more efficiently designed to parallel government funding, separation benefit plans can effectively extend benefit payouts received by each worker and better balance layoff packages with the financial needs of the company. By utilizing funding such as Obama’s unemployment extension to expand the pool of available severance funds, enhanced benefits can be made available for all beneficiaries. In such a risky economy, providing jobless benefits is practically (and should be) a necessity…lessening risks faced by terminated workers by better balancing the funding of these benefits should be a requirement.