Theresa Opeka
Carolina Journal
On Wednesday, Gov. Roy Cooper signed an emergency executive order increasing the unemployment payments for all North Carolinians in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
All Council of State members concurred with the order.
Weekly unemployment benefits will rise from a maximum of $350 to a maximum of $600 a week. Before the executive order, those collecting unemployment benefits would have received less than the $350 weekly maximum.
“As I’ve traveled for days around western North Carolina, I’ve heard concern from many small business owners about their employees who are unemployed because their businesses are temporarily closed,” Cooper, a Democrat, said in a press release. “This Executive Order will increase unemployment benefits and help ease the financial burden for impacted North Carolinians as they work to recover from the storm.”
The order is tied to the State of Emergency for Hurricane Helene and will remain in effect until the emergency ends or is rescinded.
Eligible claimants’ benefits will be retroactive to Sept. 29. It may take two to three weeks for those affected to see the impact in their weekly benefit checks.
Due to federal law, the order for the elevated payments is statewide for all recipients. State unemployment benefits, however, will still be capped at 12 weeks, but workers who lived or worked in the impacted North Carolina counties and are out of work due to the disaster will qualify for up to 26 weeks of federal benefits, to be paid through March 29, 2025, under the federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance program.
The increased benefits would largely go to workers from counties impacted by Helene. Unemployment data through Oct. 13 show that workers from those counties make up 79% of new claims, or 19,735, since the disaster. This percentage will likely increase as more counties are added to the disaster declaration.
“I recommend that the Governor, working with local, state, and federal officials and agencies, resolve to more clearly define and identify areas that are most impacted by this and future disasters,” North Carolina State Treasurer and Council of State member Dale Folwell said Wednesday in a press release. “That would assure that increased benefits and employer tax relief are provided to those in the greatest need. Hopefully, the US Congress and the North Carolina General Assembly will take this opportunity to draft laws that will allow precision focus and immediate action to struggling disaster relief areas instead of extending response on a statewide basis.”
The Division of Employment Security, which administers both the traditional state unemployment benefits and federal disaster unemployment assistance benefits, estimates that, for every 10,000 North Carolinians who receive elevated state benefits, the additional cost to the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund would be $2.5 million per week.
They say that if 50,000 North Carolinians from impacted counties received the full additional state benefit for all 12 weeks, the additional cost to the Trust Fund is estimated to be $150 million. Those same 50,000 workers would then be eligible for an additional 14 weeks of federal benefits, totaling an additional $175 million paid by the federal government.
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