Nearly two months after a computer glitch delayed unemployment checks for hundreds of New Hampshire residents, the state has almost completely resolved the problem.
But now it has an even bigger dilemma on its hands — not enough money to pay them.
Come the new year, the state is faced with the prospect of having to seek money from the federal government — some $160 million in loans — to continue cutting unemployment checks, according to Darrell Gates, deputy commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security.
"We are going to have to borrow by January 2010," Gates said.
He said relying on the federal government for financial help may soon become a "frequent phenomenon" as the state's unemployment trust fund continues to become depleted during challenging fiscal times.
With approximately 27,000 New Hampshire residents collecting benefits, there just isn't enough money coming into the trust fund through the unemployment insurance tax payments paid by the state's businesses, Gates said.
The state expects to pay about $280 million in unemployment compensation this year and currently has $55 million in the fund, he added. If the state wasn't able to borrow the money from the federal government, it would be forced to increase the tax.
"We can't recover quickly enough," Gates said. "There is no way we would want to raise taxes by the tune of $280 million. It's a fine balance right now."
While the state has its own problems, so do some of the roughly 6.9 percent of New Hampshire workers without jobs who will exhaust their unemployment benefits by the end of the year.
For each of the next three months, about 500 people will lose their unemployment benefits as the holiday season draws near. That means by Jan. 1, these approximately 1,500 Granite Staters will no longer be receiving benefits, Gates said.
Hope for help from Congress
But there's hope a bill now before the U.S. Senate will provide some relief to workers by granting them additional unemployment benefits. An amendment to the legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., proposed extending the federally funded benefits by 17 weeks for the jobless in all 50 states. A compromise deal announced Thursday and awaiting a vote from the full Senate would grant at least 14 weeks of benefits to workers in all states.
"Until the job market improves, we have a responsibility to help unemployed workers continue to pay their mortgage, keep food on the table and purchase other essentials," Shaheen said in a statement. "This is not only good for workers, it is vital to our economy. That's why we must pass an unemployment benefit extension without delay."
Under the initial bill, already passed by the U.S. House, only people in the 27 states with unemployment rates higher than 8.5 percent would qualify for an additional 13 weeks of benefits.
Of course, that doesn't include New Hampshire, with its jobless rate of less than 7 percent, despite the 51,100 unemployed residents.
The federal extension would be welcome relief for the state and its workers, particularly the 1,500 whose benefits will expire by Jan. 1, according to Gates. He said he agrees with Shaheen that where you live isn't the issue, it's how long you have been without a job that should be the determining factor.
Some problems remain
For one Salem woman, being without a job since January has been costly in more ways than one, despite extended unemployment benefits.
She is one of the few unemployed workers in New Hampshire still feeling the impact of a widespread computer problem at the state's unemployment offices in August that delayed payments to hundreds.
People filing their weekly claims online experienced trouble when the new computer system rejected their passwords. Those passwords were new and complex. Simpler passwords were eventually issued, Gates said. In the meantime, another computer problem led to some checks not being printed and others being printed more than once.
The backlog in claims led to the state opening up some unemployment offices over the weekend, including the Salem office. That office was open on weekends until the end of September, according to manager Roberta Gabriel.
"Everyone is getting much more familiar with the new system," she said.
For the Salem woman, who declined to be identified because she said she is embarrassed to be receiving unemployment benefits, the troubles with the new computer system meant she stopped receiving her regular checks in July.
Now, it's been about five weeks since she last got an unemployment check and she is not sure why. Repeated attempts to file her claims online have failed and calls to the unemployment office in Salem have gone unreturned. Even trips to the office itself have been fruitless, she said.
"I feel bad for someone who doesn't even have Internet access," the woman said, meaning that person would have to travel to the Salem office and wait to be helped. "And the Web site is so confusing."
As for trying to reach someone by phone, "I ended up getting so frustrated, I ended up giving up," she said. "I think they (the staff) are really frustrated as well."
Gabriel said taking care of customers who visit the office are a top priority and phone calls are returned as soon as possible.
Gates said most of the problems with the computer system have been solved. But, he acknowledged, there is a small percentage of people who filed as long ago as early September who still haven't received their checks.
Those checks should be arriving soon, he said.
"We seem to have conquered the password issue," Gates said. "We are not completely caught up yet, but we are getting there."
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