States' jobless funds run low

A growing number of states are running out of cash to pay unemployment benefits, a sign of how far social-welfare systems are being stretched by the swelling ranks of the jobless in the deteriorating U.S. economy. Unemployment filings have soared so high in recent months that seven states have already emptied their unemployment-insurance trust funds, which were supposed to see them through recessionary periods. Another 11 states are in jeopardy of depleting reserves by year's end, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which published a January report entitled "The Crisis in State Unemployment Trust Funds." So far, states have borrowed more than $2.3 billion in emergency funds from the federal government, money they are required to pay back. The national unemployment rate is expected to hit 7.5% when January job data are released Friday, and rates are approaching double digits in some hard-hit industrial states. Nearly 4.8 million people collected unemployment insurance last week, the most since federal officials began tracking such data 40 years ago. New York has already borrowed more than $330 million to pay unemployment claims, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In the past, New Jersey borrowed from its trust fund to pay for other expenses, and now it has only a few months of payments in reserve. The crisis is most stark in South Carolina, where unemployment has approached 20% in some poor counties, and where the state of the unemployment trust fund, little noticed in boom times, has sparked a standoff involving the governor. At the same time, proposals to raise payroll taxes to alleviate the crisis are going over like a lead balloon in state legislative sessions that started last month. While the economic-stimulus package being debated in Congress would pump billions of dollars into the unemployment system, it would also increase the amount of benefits paid. It wouldn't solve the core problem of the state trust funds' depleted reserves and balances outstanding. "You collect money when times are good and pay it out when times are bad, but no one anticipated such bad times," said Diana Hinton Noel, labor analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. Employers argue that raising payroll taxes isn't an option, as they cannot afford to pay more taxes in the midst of an economic crisis. Worker advocates worry that officials will impose some type of shared-sacrifice solution, in which benefits for the unemployed could be cut to lessen a payroll-tax increase. Like many other states, South Carolina's unemployment trust fund was flush a decade ago. In what was deemed a tax break for businesses, the state lowered the rate that employers paid in payroll taxes for unemployment insurance. In 2001, the fund had a balance of more than $600 million, according to the governor's office. But the fund balance began to drop precipitously three years ago, as the state began paying out more for jobless benefits. The trust fund went broke last fall. At the request of the state's Employment Security Commission, Gov. Mark Sanford sought an emergency loan in September from the federal government. But Mr. Sanford balked at signing a second request in December, demanding that the state agency agree to an outside audit and prove the authenticity of its data, which he routinely questions. He relented hours before the New Year's Eve deadline in what became a well-publicized standoff. "You got 77,000 individuals out of work, and the unemployment check is the only lifeline they have," said Roosevelt T. Halley, executive director of the state agency. "There was this mental anguish that there wouldn't be a check for them." Gov. Sanford said he is using the only leverage he has to make the agency and its legislatively appointed leaders better stewards of public money. "Who held the unemployed of South Carolina hostage? The agency," he said. "If you watch $600 million disappear over six years, and you have zero elbow room except to ask for an emergency loan, you put them as hostages." So far, the state has borrowed more than $110 million in emergency funds from the federal government, according to the Department of Labor. But unemployment filings are rising so rapidly that the amount requested just weeks ago for this quarter won't meet the growing need, Mr. Halley said. The amount the state paid in benefits per week reached $20 million in January, compared with $14 million in December, Mr. Halley said. The impasse continues as Gov. Sanford threatens to fire agency officials unless they provide data by Feb. 9 proving the legitimacy of each unemployment filing, and more details about employers. While the proposed U.S. stimulus package will likely bulk up unemployment benefits, the focus is on extending benefits to the long-term unemployed and expanding jobless insurance to part-time employees. The package is likely to extend the grace period for interest on federal money loaned to states like South Carolina, but they would probably need to pay it back. Options include raising the payroll tax, pulling money from other state funds or potentially restricting eligibility, said Ms. Noel of the National Conference of State Legislatures, adding, "Unfortunately, they're all difficult choices to make."