LIHU‘E – Kaua‘i unemployment-insurance recipients say they are “shocked” and “terrified” about losing their benefits. “It’s devastating,” said Stephanie Moore of Kapa‘a as she left Lihu‘e’s Unemployment Insurance office Friday after receiving her final check. “At least 10 close friends
LIHU‘E – Kaua‘i unemployment-insurance recipients say they are “shocked” and “terrified” about losing their benefits.
“It’s devastating,” said Stephanie Moore of Kapa‘a as she left Lihu‘e’s Unemployment Insurance office Friday after receiving her final check. “At least 10 close friends are struggling and may be losing their benefits. I’m thankful the president did the extensions as much as he did, but now we’re twisting in the wind.”
The federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program ended Nov. 30 following the U.S. House of Representatives’ failure to pass a bill on Nov. 18 that would have provided a three-month continuation of benefits for the long-term unemployed.
Moore, a single mother with an 8-year-old daughter, said she was laid off from her job at a Head Start preschool the summer before last due to budget cutbacks.
“Because of unemployment insurance, I was able to take classes in massage at KCC (Kaua‘i Community College),” she said. “Now, I have to figure out what do next. I have to continue my schooling, but how I’m going to do it for the next five or six months is beyond me. This gray area of not knowing which way it’s going is terrifying.”
The federally funded EUC program had extended unemployment insurance (UI) compensation payments up to 47 weeks after exhaustion of the regular 26 weeks of state-funded benefits.
Extended benefits are divided into three tier levels, and each tier must be exhausted before moving on to the next. Tier one lasts 20 weeks, tier two 14 weeks and tier three 13 weeks.
Those who exhaust a tier of benefits after Nov. 30 will not be able to move on to the next tier. Those who exhaust regular benefits after the week ending Nov. 20 will not receive any EUC benefits. All EUC program payments end by April 30.
State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Kaua‘i branch Manager Lisa Nakamura said that during the month of October, there were 127 Kaua‘i claimants who received their final payments of regular benefits, and 20 who exhausted tier one of EUC, 53 who exhausted tier two and 40 who exhausted tier three.
In September, 54 exhausted their benefits for tier one of EUC, 86 for tier two and 41 for tier three.
The maximum payment is $599 per week. Additional weekly stimulus payments of $25 under the Federal Additional Compensation program will end Dec. 11.
A 49-year-old Princeville resident who asked not to be named said unemployment compensation does not come close to what he earned last year while working in resort sales, but it covers his basic expenses.
“I’ll get my last check at the end of the month, and then what?” he said. “I barely made rent last month. The next step for me will probably be to move out of my house and into my car…Nobody is hiring. I have no family. Where can I go? What can do?”
The University of Hawai‘i graduate with a master’s degree in business said he is “totally shocked Congress decided to drop the ball right before Christmas,” and hopes it’s not too late to find a holiday retail job.
“But let’s say you get a $10-an-hour job at Kmart. They probably won’t let you work more than six hours a day. After you factor in taxes and the cost of gas to go to and from Princeville and Lihu‘e, you might have enough left over for a hot lunch. Forget about it.”
Bill Grier, branch manager of WorkWise Kaua‘i employment resource center, said the number of people looking for work through his office has increased steadily for the last few months.
“We see an average of about 40 a day typically,” Grier said. “In October, it was about 43 a day, 46 a day in November and 46 to 48 a day so far this month. So we’re definitely seeing more people. In 2007, we were seeing about 30 a day.
“We have more jobs to offer now than we did in 2008,” he said. “There are more signs things are getting better. More people are moving from part-time to full-time, and the retail trade for the holidays has been hiring.”
Moore said she will not finish school until May, and is worried about not only finding work but something that will also fit with her class schedule. She is equally concerned about how to tell her daughter to keep her Christmas wish list short this year.
“She doesn’t fully understand, and she has this big list,” she said. “It breaks my heart.”
• Vanessa Van Voorhis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251).
