Is the Job You're Offering Better than Unemployment?

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 By Koleen Singerline

With the unemployment rate at nearly 10%, many hiring managers are thinking it should be really easy to find some really great employees. Additionally, managers believe they can pay candidates less than they would have a year ago because these people are "desperate" to find a job. With all the stories we see nightly on the news - the long unemployment lines and people talking about the jobs that are no longer there for them, you would think this to be true.

Actually, things aren't quite what you think. As the economy picks up, what we're seeing is that it's still difficult to find candidates at the levels that are needed in our part of New Jersey - skilled warehouse and assembly workers and talented administrative personnel that can multi-task - these workers are still in high demand and short in supply.

There are people with the skills we need, but some of them are not very anxious to return to work. Why?! Unemployed individuals can now receive benefits for up to 99 weeks (yes, that's nearly 2 years!) as well as partial payment of their COBRA benefits (According to the State of New Jersey, individuals pay 35% of their COBRA benefits - the 65% is contributed). Below is an example of a typical individual that might be available for a job now, but receiving unemployment benefits:

The current situation:
UNEMPLOYEMENT CLAIMS CONCLUSION BASED ON RESEARCH

Dept. of Labor Website and Handbook for Submitting a Claim
Weekly Benefit Rate (WBR)

• 60% of weekly wages during base period for claims filed in 2010, with a max of $600 per week
• Extra 7% for 1st dependant
• Extra 4% for ea. of next two dependants, max of 3 dependants can be claimed
• You can earn up to 20% of your WBR and still receive a full unemployment check for that week. 
• Your benefit amount has a cap based on how much you earned during the base period

Example:
"Doris" is a mother of two (ages 3 and 7) recently laid off from her job as an office manager for XYZ Co. where she made $40,000. She has elected to COBRA her health benefits (using a standard family plan of $1300 / mo.) and has qualified for unemployment, as her termination was involuntary.

Scenario A: Doris Remains Unemployed and Receives...

• + $1984.62 / month in UE Benefits
• + $138.92 / month for dependant #1
• + $79.38 / month for dependant #2
• - $455.00 / month for COBRA ($845 is contributed for her)
• - $0 in childcare (she is home to take care of them)

Monthly Total: $1,747.92 *

Scenario B: Doris returns to work as a temporary employee receiving $12 / hour and working 40 hours / week

• + 2064.00 / month
• - $1300.00 / month for COBRA
• - $860.00 / month for childcare

Monthly Total: - $96.00 *

*an average of 4.3 weeks / month was used to calculate monthly totals

When you look at all the facts, it's apparent that we may need to make an adjustment in our thinking.  If we want to get qualified workers, we need to offer competitive pay, despite the high unemployment rate.