Unemployment insurance

“ Finally, Congress viewed unemployment insurance payments as a means of exerting an influence upon the stabilization of industry. 'Their only distinguishing feature is that they will be specially earmarked for the use of the unemployed at the very times when it is best for business that they should be so used.' [16] Early payment of insurance benefits serves to prevent a decline in the purchasing power of the unemployed, which in turn serves to aid industries producing goods and services. ”

“ Another helpful feature of unemployment insurance is the incentive it will give to employers to plan more carefully in order that unemployment may be prevented by the stabilizing of employment itself. ”

“ The crucial question presented here is whether a State can refuse to pay its unemployment insurance to persons solely because they have preferred unfair labor practice charges against their former employer. ”

“ A thorough investigation should be made as to what industries could undertake their own unemployment insurance, and whether it is better that they should do so, or come into a general scheme of insurance by all industries. The ordinary objection of employers and Trade Unions representing “good” industries, i.e. those with a low rate of unemployment, is that they are paying for the “bad” industries with a high rate, but is not that rather the essence of insurance? It may well be that only insurance by all industries acting collectively is possible. ”

“ For many people who are still looking for work, unemployment insurance is a lifeline that can make the difference between temporary hardship or lasting catastrophe. Instead of punishing these families who can least afford it – especially now – Congress should first restore that lifeline immediately, then put their entire focus on creating more good jobs that pay good wages. ”

“ So I come to Unemployment Insurance. It is not practicable at the present time to establish a universal system of unemployment insurance. We, therefore, have to choose at the very outset of this subject between insuring some workmen in all trades or all workmen in some. ”

“ So extending unemployment insurance isn’t just the right thing to do for our families – it’s the smart thing to do for our economy. And it shouldn’t be a partisan issue. For decades, Congress has voted to offer relief to job-seekers – including when the unemployment rate was lower than it is today. ”

“ If the millions of unemployed Americans stopped getting this insurance, and stopped using that money for basic necessities, it would be a devastating blow to this economy. Democrats and Republicans in this chamber have supported unemployment insurance plenty of times in the past. ”

“ We shall come to unemployment insurance in this country just as certainly as we have come to workmen’s compensation for industrial injury, just as certainly as we are to-day in the midst of insuring against old-age want.
Ninety per cent of unemployment is wholly without the fault of the worker. Other nations and governments have undertaken various systems which insure their workers when unemployment comes. ”

“ Now, there are some people -- there have been just a handful of states, two or three, who have said, we don't want to take some of the unemployment insurance because what we said was that a portion of this unemployment insurance -- you have to make it more available to people who are temporary workers or part-time workers because the labor force has changed and there are a lot of people, particularly women, who, you know, they may have children, they may be working part-time, but when they lose that job it's tough for them. ”

“ The receipt of benefit over the counter of a State institution encouraged him to believe that the State took an interest in the welfare of himself and his dependents. Whether, therefore, unemployment insurance by industries as a whole or each industry separately may or may not be arranged in the future, it would be exceedingly ungrateful of the people in this country to overlook the national work that has been performed by the Ministry of Labour and the officials of the Employment Exchanges under most difficult circumstances. ”

“ Some Republican leaders actually treat this unemployment insurance as if it’s a form of welfare. They say it discourages folks from looking for work. Well, I’ve met a lot of folks looking for work these past few years, and I can tell you, I haven’t met any Americans who would rather have an unemployment check than a meaningful job that lets you provide for your family. And we all have friends, neighbors, or family members who already knows how hard it is to land a job when five workers are competing for every opening. ”

“ Where persons were entitled to unemployment benefit from the Trade Unions they should receive it and in addition be paid unemployment benefit under the Unemployment Insurance Acts; the rate of benefit, under those Acts, to be increased to a sum to be fixed in regard to the prevailing cost of living. Unemployed persons who did not receive benefit under the Acts, and those who had received it, but had run out of it, should be paid maintenance up to a total sum per week fixed in due relation to the cost of living. Trade Unions paying unemployment benefit were to receive a Government subsidy. ”

“ We’ll extend unemployment insurance benefits for millions of workers, beyond the deadline that is now set. It means that 16 million Americans who are currently relying on unemployment benefits while they look for work can count on these checks continuing to be there in the middle of this crisis. ”

“ The fact is, most economists agree that extending unemployment insurance is one of the single most cost-effective ways to help jumpstart the economy. It puts money into the pockets of folks who not only need it most, but who also are most likely to spend it quickly. ”

“ Think about what these stalling tactics mean for the millions of Americans who’ve lost their jobs since the recession began. Over the past several weeks, more than two million of them have seen their unemployment insurance expire. For many, it was the only way to make ends meet while searching for work – the only way to cover rent, utilities, even food. ”

“ I really believe that putting purchasing power in the form of unemployment-insurance benefits in the hands of the people at the moment when the depression begins and when the first groups begin to be laid off is bound to have a beneficial effect. ”

“ What about unemployment insurance? The Minister of Finance proposes to narrow the gap between employment income and unemployment insurance payments for people with modest income and dependants, thereby further reducing the incentive to work.
If there is one thing this country needs it is more jobs. This budget has presented easy choices but no jobs. The bad news is that the hard choices still lie ahead.
A previous Liberal government, back in the seventies, promised us a just society but delivered to us a debt society. ”

“ If a hardworking American loses her job, regardless of what state she lives in, we should make sure she can get unemployment insurance and some help to retrain for her next job. If she’s been unemployed for a while, we should reach out to her and connect her with career counseling. And if she finds a new job that doesn’t pay as much as her old one, we should offer some wage insurance that helps her pay her bills. ”

“ It is for that reason, quite apart from the merits of the scheme of unemployment insurance, that the Government are very anxious to associate with their system of Labour Exchanges a system of unemployed insurance. If Labour Exchanges depend for their effective initiation and establishment upon unemployment insurance being associated with them, it is equally true to say that no scheme of unemployment insurance can be worked except in conjunction with some apparatus for finding work and testing willingness to work, like Labour Exchanges. ”

“ The economic security of working men and women has been strengthened by an extension of unemployment insurance coverage to 2.5 million ex-servicemen, 2.4 million Federal employees, and 1.2 million employees of small businesses, and by a strengthening of the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. States have been encouraged to improve their unemployment compensation benefits, so that today average weekly benefits are 40 percent higher than in 1953. ”

“ Unemployment insurance no more cures unemployment than life insurance cures death. All that is done by it is to relieve the distress caused by the unemployment. It is a great and worthy object, but the unemployed workman drawing his out-of-work pay, is still unemployed.
The Labour Party has propounded a "Right-to-Work" {124} Bill, but this again, on examination, suggests work or maintenance, its promoters seeing clearly that economic work cannot be made to order by a State which is as poor in property as the workmen themselves. ”

“ Because, therefore, some unemployment is inevitable, and because unemployment is in many cases beyond the control of the individual, it becomes necessary, or at least desirable, for the state to insure workmen against this unavoidable risk.
Insurance against unemployment has never been tried out in this country, but it is likely that we shall some day follow the example of the leading European countries, and include this type of protection in our general program of social insurance. ”

“ Unemployment Insurance.—The establishment and promotion of unemployment insurance, especially amongst unskilled and unorganized labour, is of paramount importance in averting distress arising from unemployment, and is of such national importance as to justify, under specified conditions, contributions from public funds towards its furtherance. The commission further state that this insurance can best be promoted by utilizing the agency of existing trade organizations, or of organizations of a similar character. ”

“ I would suggest to you that for the past 40 years, under both Democratic and Republican administrations and under Democratic and Republican leadership in the Senate or in the House, whenever the unemployment rate has been above 7.2 percent, unemployment insurance has always been extended. ”

“ These councils might conceivably work out plans in different industries intended to steady the employment of 285 the wage earners, and methods of insurance against the worst vicissitudes of their employment. In the pottery trade of England, for example, the industrial council has been giving consideration to the question of an Unemployment Insurance Fund for the industry. The possibilities of coöperation between employers and employed in that direction are genuine. ”

“ Government insurance against old age, accident, sickness, and unemployment is regarded, not as the "workingmen's compensation" for injuries done them by society, but as an automatic means of forcing backward employers to economize the community's limited supply of labor power—not to wear it out too soon, not to overstrain it, not to damage it irreparably or lay it up unnecessarily for repairs, and not to leave it idle. ”

“ And, lastly, Labour Exchanges are indispensable to any system of Unemployment Insurance, as indeed to any other type of honourable assistance to the unemployed, since they alone can provide an adequate test of the desire for work and of the reality of unemployment. ”

“ Protection of old-age and survivors' insurance was extended to an additional ten million of our people, and the benefits were substantially increased. Legislation was enacted to provide unemployment insurance protection to some four million additional Americans. ”

“ Help ensure that unemployed Americans no longer have to choose between paying their bills and keeping themselves and their families safe from COVID-19 by asking the U.S. Department of Labor to clarify that workers who refuse unsafe working conditions can still receive unemployment insurance. ”

“ I must, therefore, recommend a three-tenths of 1 percent increase in both employer and employee social security taxes effective January 1, 1977. This will cost each covered employee less than 1 extra dollar a week and will ensure the integrity of the trust fund.
As we rebuild our economy, we have a continuing responsibility to provide a temporary cushion to the unemployed. At my request, the Congress enacted two extensions and two expansions in unemployment insurance which helped those who were jobless during 1975. ”

“ When people have money to spend on basic necessities, that means more customers for our businesses and, ultimately, more jobs. And the evidence shows that unemployment insurance doesn’t stop people from trying hard to find work. ”

“ Pass this jobs bill, and companies will get a $4,000 tax credit if they hire anyone who has spent more than six months looking for a job. (Applause.) We have to do more to help the long-term unemployed in their search for work. This jobs plan builds on a program in Georgia that several Republican leaders have highlighted, where people who collect unemployment insurance participate in temporary work as a way to build their skills while they look for a permanent job. The plan also extends unemployment insurance for another year. ”

“ And if Congress wants to help, you can concentrate funding on proven programs that connect more ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs.
I’m also convinced we can help Americans return to the workforce faster by reforming unemployment insurance so that it’s more effective in today’s economy. But first, this Congress needs to restore the unemployment insurance you just let expire for 1.6 million people. ”

“ Sir Alfred Watson, the Government Actuary, before the Committee of Inquiry on the Labour Exchanges, pointed out the great financial benefit it would be to the principal industries to provide their own unemployment insurance, and referred to the large margin there would be available for the actual costs of the benefits. ”

“ In the short term, we’re fighting to speed up this recovery and keep the economy growing by all means possible. That means extending unemployment insurance for workers who lost their job. That means getting small businesses the loans they need to keep their doors open and hire new workers. ”