unemployment

Gov. John Hickenlooper signs House Bill 1272, which will expand training programs
for unemployed Coloradans. The Bell testified in favor of the bill,
and Wade Buchanan, president of the Bell, is at right.

Gov. John Hickenlooper signs House Bill 1272, which will expand training programs for unemployed Coloradans. The Bell testified in favor of the bill,
and Wade Buchanan, president of the Bell, is at right.

This report by the Bell Policy Center finds that, even before the current economic downturn, our state's poor and low-income working families were struggling and falling behind.

In 2004, the Bell Policy Center produced Opportunity Lost, When Hard Work Isn't Enough for Colorado's Families, a review of economic indicators and a status report on the state's poor and low-income working families.

In an update to that report, the Bell finds that working poor and low-income families now fare worse on many of the same indicators examined in our 2004 report.

Emergency unemployment benefits will expire unless Congress renews them by Nov. 30.

The reason is that the Unemployment Compensation Act of 2010, which provides an additional 53 weeks of federal benefits to eligible workers who exhaust their 26 weeks of benefits from the regular state-funded unemployment compensation program, will end.

By Laura Chapin
Posted on Huffington Post/Denver

If you're a parent whose post-college graduate child has returned to sleeping at your home, you're not alone. And if you're a recent college graduate who has been out there beating the employment bushes and finding them beating you right back, you are also not alone.

By Christen Lara
Colorado College research fellow
lara@thebell.org

The Legislative Council staff's June economic forecast, released last week, shows Colorado continuing "to suffer through one of its worst downturns in over 50 years." Unemployment reached a two-decade high – Colorado's rate was 7.6 percent in May – and the council's economists expect things to worsen. Their forecast shows the average unemployment rate rising to 9.6 percent in 2010.

In case you missed it, we wanted to call your attention to a recent New York Times survey of all 50 states and how they handle six federal aid programs ranging from public assistance to health insurance for poor children. It is a state-by-state measure of the safety net. Where did Colorado rank? “Colorado is dead last,” Wade Buchanan said in email to the Bell's staff after reviewing the survey.

Read the New York Times story

Policy brief explaining federal and state legislative activity relating to SUTA-dumping and explaining the issue.

HB 06-1327 represents a net opportunity gain for Colorado. It allows workers to count their more recent earnings when qualifying for unemployment benefits.

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