Companion to Perma-Temp Futures - Part Time Retail

Saturday I wrote a post on the Perma-Temp Future for many people who are among the long term un and underemployed from the Great Recession. This is the future reality for many people who have considered themselves professionals in a chosen field. People like myself and the field of Software Quality Assurance for example.

Today (1/3/11) there are a couple of articles from Reuters and CNN on hiring for 2011. The titles probably say as much about what 2011 hiring will look like as the articles themselves. The Reuters title:

Jobs trickle in. Whither workers?

The CNN title:

2011: A hiring boom, even at 9% unemployment

Though it might seem counter-intuitive, both titles are probably accurate.

As the Big Hand Giveth, the Little Hand Taketh Away

The past couple of days, as I've surfed across the news sites as always, I've seen a mix of articles about the extension of the Unemployment Compensation included in the Tax Cut extension bill. The good news was that the bill included an extension of the Unemployment Compensation for another 13 months (why they couldn't have matched the two year extension of the tax cuts is beyond me but that's another story). Of course, since it appears that one in three workers will see their taxes go up under the "tax cut extension," it shouldn't be that much of a surprise after all.

But then I saw this article via CNN pointing out that folks in a number of states won't even get to receive up to 99 weeks of Unemployment but are capped out at 60 weeks.

Here's how the system works: The jobless collect up to 26 weeks of state benefits before shifting to the extended federal program. Federal benefits consist of up to 53 weeks of emergency compensation, which is divided into four tiers, and up to another 20 weeks of extended benefits. The maximum is 99 weeks.

But not everyone can collect benefits for that long. Extended benefits, as well as the last two tiers of emergency compensation, are tied to state unemployment rates. So as their state job picture brightens, the jobless stop qualifying for long-term benefits.

To be eligible for the fourth tier of emergency benefits, which last up to six weeks, the average state's unemployment rate must be above 8.5% for three months. Similarly, states lose their eligibility for the third tier of benefits, which last up to 13 weeks, if their rate falls below 6%. Extended benefits have a more complicated formula tied to different gauges of unemployment.