$72,600,000

The release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly Job report on Friday did little to ease the minds of the Unemployed, as the growth of the Unemployment rate to 9% served as a reminder that the economy has a long way to go before it's healthy again.

One of the more interesting statistics in a seemingly contradictory report is the growth in the number of short-term unemployed. Those reporting being unemployed in April for between one and five weeks grew by 242,0000. Assuming each of these 242,000 unemployed persons collected State Unemployment Benefits for each of these five weeks, 1,210,000 State Unemployment Benefit payments were made for the period of time discussed in this report by the BLS.

Companies looking to save money by performing force reductions are likely successful in the short-term. With productivity and employee morale often decreasing in parallel during large force reductions, one might wonder if there is a better approach to achieving immediate cost savings?

For argument's sake, assume the average State Unemployment Payment is $300 per week, about $1500 for an individual over the course of five weeks of unemployment. In April, 242,000 people collectively collected $72,600,000. Presumably more, as these people were laid off and, as is typical, collected severance.

72 million dollars. 72 million dollars of money freely available for companies to integrate into their separation benefit programs. 72 millions dollars companies could have used as an offset to the traditional severance awards. If businesses in the United States had paid separation benefits through a SUB Plan vehicle, in the first five weeks of the unemployment periods of the 242,000 people reported about in April, they could have saved 72 million dollars.

The use of a SUB Plan allows immediate cost savings. As our economy recovers, saving money is what companies need to do. Implementation of a SUB Plan program to save such vast amounts of money is the simple answer.