House Votes to Up Unemployment Benefits

Our state House of Representatives has passed HB 1906, known by its sexier title, the Economic Security Act of 2009. The bill will temporarily increase unemployment benefits by $45 a week, and jacks the minimum benefit from $129 per week to $155. Out of curiosity, who thinks they can get by on $620 per month? Fun fact courtesy of Chuck Taylor: a back of the envelope calculation puts Seattle's unemployment rate at 15 percent, double the state rate. We also agree that taxing UI benefits is cruel and unusual punishment.

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By MvB in News on February 6, 2009 2:30 PM

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Troy Morris

Added bonus, you can get a free flex car membership and some credit for filing for Unemployment and going through the system (helps get to interviews in a ... well... zip).

Troy Morris

Not every one on Unemployment gets that much. That's just the minimum.

You also have to take into account, some folks may have been in a lease, so just picking up and moving isn't always an option.

It's also important to keep in mind that by claiming unemployment your tax returnn will be significantly less. Mine was 1/5 of what it normally would be for claiming unemployment (yes, taxed) for 2 months.

Of course, I got a heck of a lot more than 100-someodd dollars a week.

grid

i think an important thing to note is that increasing the benefit by $180 a month is very significant when compared to the very small initial amount.

subtract $180 from the rough budget i whipped up above, and everything becomes much more difficult.

MvB

grid, you took that question to the mat! But yes, the increase is a big deal. I have a really hard time imagining who (in an urban area) the previous minimum amount would have helped. To your otherwise exhaustive list, we should add utilities (electricity, water, garbage, heat)--mostly not included in rent these days. Plus, that $516 was taxed!

grid

here's the list of shared rooms i got the values from:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/search/roo?maxAsk=400

most of the shared housing type arrangements there include electricity, water, garbage and heat.

the biggest problem is that i'm not sure how feasible shared housing is for many people. the more "stuff" you have to start with, the more difficult the arrangement is to swing.

i see the new amount as "workable", but the previous amount was a bit of a stretch.

grid

$620 a month? hm.

craigslist has a fair amount of shared housing options at $250. let's budget $320 for that, to provide a little flexibility in terms of location, leaving $300.

monthly puget pass for peak hours fares will run $72 a month, leaving $278.

assuming you use the library or job center internet to look for a job, you'll need a cell phone to receive calls from employers. virgin mobile gives you 200 minutes for 20 dollars on their cheapest plan. probably should budget at least $30 for this, leaving $268.

that's shelter, transport and basic communications with $268 left over. budgeting $50 a week for "food", we're leaves $68.

now, where do you put that $68 dollars? an internet connection if you have a computer already? maybe try to turn that bus pass into gas and insurance for a car you already own? maybe slightly improved accommodations, although under $400 in the puget sound area and you're still probably going to be sharing with people.

this is all very back-of-the-envelope, and i'm probably under-budgeting, but presuming that you don't have any "stuff" and are living with other people, that's as about as far as $650 a month will get you.