Unemployment Insurance Abuse
You know that bartender or waitress at your favorite summer spot at the shore? The one that is there year after year, knows your name when you show up every season and remembers your favorite drink? That one.
The really good ones make enough money in tips over the summer to support their households for the rest of the year. Six figures in cash tips over the summer.
Way too many of these people are also collecting unemployment, every year, year after year, from September through May. It is a way of life.
Two shore mayors from Cape May County, with the support of the League of Municipalities are looking for a legislator to sponsor legislation in the next session that would disqualify seasonal workers from collecting unemployment insurance, according to a report at NJ.com
The mayors and the league want to save money on unemployment for seasonal municipal workers. That’s not a bad idea. However the real savings, for the state’s unemployment fund, can be found in eliminating unemployment insurance for private sector seasonal employees.
Governor Christie doesn’t want the State to be subsidizing the horse racing industry. Rightfully so. However the State is also subsidizing the labor costs of every other seasonal industry. The State is subsidizing a comfortable way of life for many seasonal workers who don’t need it.
Unemployment insurance premiums are a major drag on the economy. They are a major disincentive to hiring new workers, especially for small businesses who have had to lay people off during this economy.
Eliminating unemployment insurance for all seasonal workers, not just municipal seasonal workers, will go a long way to returning the unemployment fund to solvency, reducing premiums for the businesses who hire year round workers, and boosting overall employment.
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NJ budget suffers another setback with $600M hole in April
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really a bartender in say Seaside makes enough over the summer to take the rest of the year off?
That aside what about all the seasonal workers don’t make all that money but took a low paying job for the summer rather then not work. can’t find a permenant job right away and have no guarantee the job will be there next summer? Your solution does not seem fair to them.
I think a better solution is to go back to the old days when people had to prove they were looking for a job to continue recieving unemployment from week to week.
Landscapers do this too.
But I have to disagree with you on one point – $100K in tips over the summer?
Overstating your case a litte there.
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