The most developed countries have aids for the unemployed as part of the welfare state. These unemployment benefits include unemployment insurance, welfare, unemployment compensation and subsidies to aid in retraining. The main goal of these programs is to alleviate short-term hardships and, more importantly, to allow workers more time to search for a good job.

In the U.S., the unemployement insurance allowance one receives is based solely on previous income (not time worked, family size, etc.) and usually compensates for one-third of one's previous income. To qualify, one must reside in their respective state for at least a year and, of course, work. While 90% of citizens are covered on paper, only 40% could actually receive benefits as unemployment is based on an antiquated system created in the Social Security Act of 1935.

US bill aims at increasing unemployment benefits for IT workers ...

Last Monday (July 23), two Senators introduced to the U.S. Senate a proposal to make tech workers eligible for the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. In its actual version, the TAA excludes service workers from the extended unemployment help that the government offers to blue-collar workers whose jobs have been offshored.

Call center employees and high tech workers, who lost their jobs because of the offshoring process that is taking place in this sector, will benefit from four major advantages if the new legislation is approved:

In a country where unemployment insurance lasts only six months for the majority of people, the TAA 2007 beneficiaries will receive this compensation for up to two years (if they participate in a training program).

The health credit tax that the government provides to current TAA recipients will be augmented from 65% to 85%.

Five Nassau Workers Arrested For Unemployment Fraud

MINEOLA—The Nassau County district attorney's office has filed charges against five individuals accused of fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits from the New York State Department of Labor.

Kevin Hinton, 48, of Freeport, applied for and legitimately began receiving Unemployment Insurance Benefits on Sept.

Hawaii: 5 mass layoffs in June

Hawaii had five mass layoffs and 413 initial claims for unemployment insurance in June, compared to six layoffs and 408 claims in June 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics said Monday.

Ontario eyes Nova Scotia's EI

Despite the bad rap the Maritime provinces often get on the national stage, Ontario is crying foul over one thing that's better in Nova Scotia: employment insurance benefits.

Ontario's governing Liberals are gearing up for a battle with Ottawa over the fact that an unemployed Ontario resident needs to work longer to be eligible for fewer employment insurance cheques than someone in a province such as Nova Scotia.

Employment insurance is tied to the health of the local economy in a particular region - someone living in Sydney can qualify for 33 weeks of EI with 420 hours of work, while someone living in Windsor, Ont., needs 560 insurable hours to qualify for 20 weeks of benefits.

Given the battering the province has received from the high Canadian dollar and the continued hemorrhaging of jobs in Ontario's manufacturing sector, Liberal sources say there is an urgency to get a "glaring" inequity addressed.

The Difference of Getting Paid With a 1099 Verses a W-2

Whenever a business starts there is always the question of how the people that provide services for the business will be paid. Will those services be performed by employees or will independent contractors be used? Before the business can determine how to treat payments they need to know and make clear the business relationship. It is important to establish this relationship because an employee has taxes withheld, social security and medicare matched by the employer, unemployment insurance paid, workers compensation insurance paid and often benefits provided. An independent contractor just gets paid. It is a big expense difference. To determine whether an individual is an employee or and independent contractor, the relationship of the business and worker must be examined. It comes down to does the business have control over what and how a job will be done or do they just control the results of the job.