By Sascha Cordner
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-975328.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Governor Rick Scott recently signed an unemployment compensation benefits bill, intended to cut taxes paid by employers. As Sascha Cordner reports, while the Agency for Workforce Innovation claims it will save the state 100-million dollars per year, others say it leaves people without jobs with less to live on.
The unemployment bill has several different components, which includes reducing the maximum amount of time a person without a job can receive state benefits from 26 to 23 weeks. Agency for Workforce Innovation Spokesman Robby Cunningham:
"They're designed to add efficiencies for the claimants and ease the tax burdens on employers to help them expand, create jobs, and get Floridians back to work that much quicker."
But, Florida Watch Action Executive Director Susannah Randolph says it's nothing but a tax break for employers at the expense of jobless workers.
"Our job-killing Governor who has been responsible for losing and killing over 300-thousand jobs in the state of Florida signed a bill that would leave people who don't have jobs even in a worse place."
The bill also links the number of weeks to the state's unemployment rate, meaning if the unemployment rate goes down, then the number of weeks to receive benefits drops as well.