Kentucky’s Beshear wants unemployment system changes

(The Center Square) – Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday that he’d like to see some of the changes to the state’s unemployment program brought about due to COVID-19 become permanent.

That includes restoring $18 million in funds and more than 90 jobs to the state program that was cut before he became governor. But he said there may need to be even more changes as well.

“The one thing I can’t change is the way that the overall laws and systems were designed,” he told reporters. “Remember, it’s meant, sadly, to be complicated based on how it was put together. Because it’s put together in a way to get people frustrated and to get them to quit.”

He mentioned a conversation he had with an eastern Kentucky resident who lamented about the entire process of first applying for unemployment. He added that they didn’t realize that after getting their approval, they then had to register and regularly request checks.

Many of the people who call the state with an issue end up having to call again weeks later because of another mistake that was made.

“What that means is the laws are set up in ways that, with what we’re seeing right now, where you’re almost always going to be overwhelmed,” Beshear said.

Some of those changes will need to be made at the federal level, including the possibility of allowing independent contractors and others who became eligible to receive unemployment because of the pandemic.

Shortly after the governor made his comments, House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, issued a terse statement saying lawmakers allowed Beshear to bring on 90 additional staff members during the pandemic and agreed to more funding to upgrade the system.

The speaker said the issues that have plagued the system were due to decisions made by the governor to force businesses to close and drive hundreds of thousands of people to request assistance.

“Once again the governor fails to recognize that prior to the pandemic our state had record low unemployment and more than 170,000 available jobs,” Osborne said. “Kentucky’s efforts were aimed at helping people find employment, no processing claims.”

Kentucky’s unemployment system has been a topic of debate for nearly the entire pandemic. As the state gets ready to fully reopen on June 11, Republicans have called for the state to stop taking the federal subsidy that gives unemployment recipients an extra $300 in weekly benefits, saying it has depressed the job pool and employers can’t find enough workers.

Beshear, who has reinstated requirements for filers to show they’re looking for work, has rebuffed those calls, saying the $34 million in weekly funds has helped the state’s economy.

Earlier Tuesday, a group of 17 labor unions and other organizations sent Beshear a letter urging him to maintain the benefit. The letter, released by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, said the subsidy helps a large group of workers in industries that are still struggling to emerge from the pandemic, including more than 14,000 self-employed individuals and small business owners.

“Only 10% of Kentucky workers receiving state unemployment benefits in March had previously worked in the accommodation and food services sector, which is generating most of the attention,” the letter stated. “In fact, the two industries with the most workers still receiving jobless benefits are manufacturing and construction.”

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