SAGINAW – With jobs scarce for Michigan workers in the state's struggling economy, State Representatives Joel Sheltrown (D-West Branch) and Carl Williams (D-Saginaw) today announced a package of bills that would increase unemployment benefits and extend benefits by 13 weeks when the state's unemployment rate reaches 5 percent.
"Unemployment benefits are worth less than they used to be because of inflation," said Sheltrown, who sponsored a bill to tie future unemployment increases to inflation. "I want to ensure that unemployment benefits won't be eroded by inflation in the future. Michigan workers built this state, and we must stand by them."
The legislation would:
- Extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks when unemployment reaches 5 percent.
- Increase the weekly unemployment benefit to a maximum of $408 from the current $362 and tie future increases to inflation.
- Increase the weekly benefit allowance for a dependent from $6 to $20 per week.
- Increase the multiplier that determines benefits from 4.1 percent to 4.4 percent and increase the multiplier used to calculate the number of weeks a worker can receive benefits from 43 percent to 45 percent of the base period wages.
- Round unemployment benefits up to the nearest dollar. Benefits currently are rounded down.
Michigan's unemployment benefits were last increased in 2002 from $300 to $362. If benefits had kept pace with inflation during that time period, unemployed workers would have received a maximum of $396 this year and a maximum of $408 in 2006.
"We've seen far too many CEOs bail out on our workers with the golden parachutes they've given themselves," Williams said. "Our workers and working families are the backbone of this state. Workers are the ones who built this state. We need to work for them when times get tough."