<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1596205799339.jpeg" alt="Crystal Hererra sits for a portrait in the passenger seat of her husband’s car as they wait in the drive-through pickup area of the All People’s Fresh Market food pantry in Columbus, Ohio. Hererra’s husband has been receiving the $600 weekly unemployment bonus subsidy that has been helping to support Crystal and their five children. She is unsure how they will be able to survive once it ends this week. (Brooke LaValley/Ohio Capital Journal)" />
 <figcaption>Crystal Hererra sits for a portrait in the passenger seat of her husband’s car as they wait in the drive-through pickup area of the All People’s Fresh Market food pantry in Columbus, Ohio. Hererra’s husband has been receiving the $600 weekly unemployment bonus subsidy that has been helping to support Crystal and their five children. She is unsure how they will be able to survive once it ends this week. (Brooke LaValley/Ohio Capital Journal)</figcaption>
 </figure>By MARTY SCHLADEN <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/07/31/14000-attempts-balky-technology-expiring-benefits-worry-workers-state-leaders/">Ohio Capital Journal</a> Congress
 is continuing to squabble over whether to extend a federal supplement 
to unemployment insurance and, if they do, by how much.But
 as they argue over whether to continue the supplement at its current 
$600-per-week level or some fraction of that, out-of-work Americans are 
left to worry whether they can survive on state benefits that often are a
 small part of their normal pay — pay that for many was inadequate in 
the first place.&nbsp;Creaking
 technology has already forced millions to wait on badly needed 
unemployment checks. Now state officials who run unemployment systems 
worry whether they can adjust to any changes or delays and keep the 
money flowing through their overwhelmed infrastructure.And
 economists worry that if a big part of the 32 million Americans now 
qualified for unemployment insurance can’t pay their bills, the economic
 pain will metastasize, with lenders, landlords and local businesses 
also shouldering the loss.But for many, the worries are much closer to home.As
 they sat in their minivan in a long line of cars waiting for free 
produce on Tuesday, Columbus, Ohio, residents Crystal Herrera and Donald
 Robinson said the federal unemployment supplement is the only thing 
separating them from desperation.Robinson
 had worked in fast food. But after Herrera suffered severe 
complications — including a lengthy coma — in childbirth earlier this 
year, he can’t safely do that and be around Herrera and their five 
children.“We
 need something,” Herrera said. “He can’t go to work because I’m high 
risk. Very high risk. I don’t know what they expect from us. We didn’t 
put the virus here. I know they didn’t either, but why are they going to
 so abruptly stop giving out the help to the people who need it?”<h2>Gridlock</h2>Their
 future, and that of millions of other Americans, remained murky 
Thursday. The benefits expire on Friday, although the last supplement 
many recipients will receive was processed a week before that.The Republican-controlled Senate on Monday rolled out <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/us/politics/republicans-jobless-aid.html">a $1 trillion coronavirus relief plan</a>
 that would cut the federal unemployment supplement by two-thirds, to 
$200 per week. It then would phase in a more complex scheme that many 
experts fear aging state unemployment systems can’t accommodate.House Democrats on May 15 passed the $3 trillion <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/07/27/us/politics/27reuters-health-coronavirus-usa-legislation-factbox.html">HEROES Act</a>, which would keep the supplement at $600 per week.&nbsp;This
 week, they called the GOP proposal a nonstarter. And Senate Majority 
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, acknowledged that he didn’t even 
have the support of much of his caucus for the plan.“I think it’s a statement of the obvious, that I have members who are all over the lot on this,” the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/07/28/gop-bailout-coronavirus/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_bailouthill-535pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans">Washington Post </a>quoted him as saying.With
 such differences of opinion, the most likely scenario might be that the
 unemployment supplements will expire, pain across the country will rise
 and create pressure for a bipartisan compromise. But how long will that
 take?“I
 am very concerned about that,” said Maureen Conway, executive director 
of the Economic opportunities program at the Aspen Institute. “With 
nearly 32 million people receiving unemployment benefits, this is a 
huge, huge problem for so many families. And we know that the people who
 lost employment disproportionately are lower-wage workers with not very
 much to fall back on.”That pain already is being felt by workers across the country.Last
 week, outside the headquarters of the Colorado Department of Labor and 
Employment in Denver, unemployed restaurant workers and labor groups 
held a mock funeral to protest the expiration of the $600-per-week 
federal unemployment benefit authorized by the CARES Act. They held 
cardboard coffins and gravestones bearing slogans like “R.I.P. My 
Ability to Feed My Kids” and “R.I.P. Having a Roof Over My Head.”Elise
 Gantzler was laid off from her restaurant job in March and then had to 
wait a month for her first check. People in her industry work for low 
hourly pay supplemented by tips, so under normal circumstances their 
unemployment compensation is paltry. The prospective loss of the $600 
weekly supplement is beyond ominous, Gantzler said.“Death,” she said. “That’s why we’re doing this funeral. This is literally a matter of life and death.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1596205950632.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>A deterrent from working?</h2>Inside the Senate GOP Caucus, much of the debate over benefits concerns <a href="https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2020/07/28/division-over-unemployment-heats-up-as-gop-proposes-to-cut-600-supplement-for-jobless-workers-by-two-thirds/">whether people are staying home</a> because they’re getting more from the federal unemployment supplement than they would returning to work.“Businesses
 looking to reopen are telling us their employees don’t want to come 
back to work because they collect more on unemployment,” Sen. Rick 
Scott, R-Fla., said in a <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/04/24/rick-scott-says-americans-would-rather-collect-unemployment-than-go-to-work/">fundraising email</a>. “And who can blame them?”But data to support that claim can be hard to find.A <a href="https://news.yale.edu/2020/07/27/yale-study-finds-expanded-jobless-benefits-did-not-reduce-employment">report </a>released
 last week by a group of Yale University economists reviewed 
small-business scheduling and timesheet information and concluded “the
 expanded benefits neither encouraged layoffs during the pandemic’s 
onset nor deterred people from returning to work once businesses began 
reopening.”Similarly, 39 prominent economists <a href="http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/jobs-and-unemployment-insurance/">surveyed </a>earlier
 this month by the University of Chicago said a lack of jobs was more 
likely keeping people out of the workplace than the extra pay afforded 
by the unemployment supplement.Other factors also are keeping people at home, said Conway, of the Aspen Institute.&nbsp;“There
 are fears for their own health,” she said. “There are fears for their 
families’ health. People not having care for their children. 
Transportation problems.”Those
 people include Auburn, Maine, resident Heather Finley. She was laid off
 from her job as a customer service representative on April 10. At the 
same, time her husband, an essential worker, has seen his hours — and 
his pay — cut.“If
 Congress lets the $600 expire, we might not starve, but I can’t pay for
 daycare,” Finley said. “And I can’t go and find a job when I am taking 
care of my daughter full-time.”&nbsp;The
 assumption that the federal unemployment supplement is keeping people 
out of work is faulty for another reason, said Michele Evermore, senior 
analyst for the National Employment Law Project. It ignores federal 
requirements that those receiving benefits must look for work, and that 
they can’t refuse an offer of “suitable” work and keep their benefits, 
she said.It
 also assumes that people would trade a steady job for a benefit that, 
as this week’s events demonstrate, is far from certain, Evermore said.“People
 are smart. They get that the stability of a job is worth more than a 
temporary benefit,” she said, adding that for those fortunate enough to 
have employer-based health care, that’s especially true.&nbsp;There
 have been unintended consequences of the unemployment supplements, said
 Wells Fargo Senior Economist Mark Vitner. When the funds started 
hitting people’s checking accounts, stock brokers reported a surge in 
new accounts and they created more options to trade in fractions of 
shares, Vintner said.&nbsp;But he said that’s not a reason to kill the benefits.“It’s
 better to have that unintended spillover into the stock market and have
 far fewer people falling behind in their rent and have far more people 
able to put groceries on the table,” he said.<h2>Painful disruption</h2>If,
 as seems likely, there will be a lengthy disruption of the unemployment
 supplement, there probably will be additional pain for the unemployed 
beyond losing the benefit for a week, or two, or three.Most states pay maximum weekly benefits that are far below what most would consider a living wage.&nbsp;And,
 coming out of the 2007-2009 Great Recession, many slashed program 
funding so that benefits in some states are, to put it mildly, miserly.&nbsp;In Florida, the maximum benefit is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/us/florida-coronavirus-unemployment.html">$275 per week</a>. In Arizona, it’s $240. In Louisiana it’s $247. The Kansas benefit ranges from $122 to $488.Minnesota’s relatively generous maximum benefit is $740 per week — which on an annual basis amounts to $38,000.Evermore,
 the analyst for the National Employment Law Project, said that a decade
 ago, as states tried to replenish depleted unemployment trust funds, 
widespread cuts became an obvious — if not responsible — way to do it.“As
 the unemployment rate declined, people stopped needing unemployment 
insurance, so it was pretty easy to push through massive cuts in the 
programs,” she said.That left state unemployment systems using antiquated equipment, including <a href="https://devops.com/why-cobol-still-matters-after-60-years/">COBOL computer programs </a>whose
 roots trace back to the 1940s. Also, the agencies shrank staffing along
 with benefits in an effort to cut costs, Evermore said.When
 coronavirus hit, they were swamped. So freaked-out, newly unemployed 
people across the country made it their new job trying to get what they 
were owed.“Every
 state has very little administrative funding going into this 
recession,” Evermore, said. “In every state there is a backlog. … 
They’re still getting over 2 million initial claims every week that they
 have to process.”Part
 of the problem is that state unemployment systems are legitimately 
overwhelmed. For example, the 1.5 million claims Ohio received in 18 
weeks were more than the previous three years combined, the state’s 
Department of Job and Family Services said.Exploding demand on undersized, decrepit unemployment systems led to delays that lasted weeks and even months.Among the problems:<ul>
 <li>Kansas had to hire a consulting firm to deal with the backlog of cases. The
 mainframe system crashed repeatedly and the telephone hotline was 
overwhelmed for months. A groundswell of anger contributed to the 
resignation in June of Labor secretary Delia Garcia.</li><li>In Florida, there
 have been technical malfunctions, issues with language access, and 
fraud schemes that resulted in thousands of legitimate claims being 
rejected.</li><li>Pennsylvania’s system is so old that it cannot process applications from people who made six-digit salaries.</li><li>In
 Iowa, dozens of unemployment offices were closed in 2011 and replaced 
with 700 self-help computer kiosks in public locations. Then those were 
removed in 2017.</li><li>In Arizona, divorced parents were overcharged for their child support payments.</li><li>Maine had only 13 case workers when the pandemic started.</li><li>Maryland transitioned to a new system in the middle of the crisis.</li><li>Minnesota,
 whose system has been mostly stable, still had to add two servers to 
manage the website load, hired 50 new staff, and asked customers to 
apply on particular days.</li><li>Nevada, Georgia and other states had to create a new system to pay gig workers.</li>
 </ul><h2>Horror stories</h2>The pain caused by the delays has been felt across the country.When
 Richard Williams of Powder Springs, Georgia, went to the doctor this 
spring with difficulty breathing, he thought it might have been 
COVID-19. Tests showed it was lung cancer. He applied for state 
unemployment benefits March 30.&nbsp;Now his wife, Cindy Williams, spends much of her day on hold with the Department of Labor, hoping somebody will pick up.“I
 start at 7:59 and call up until 3:59, off and on, all day long, except 
when I’m at the hospital with my husband, and I can’t get a signal,” she
 said.&nbsp;They
 have been living on no income since April and have been relying on 
family and charity to make ends meet “and when that’s gone, we don’t 
have nothing,” Williams said.In
 Kansas, the state agency’s computer system — a vestige of the 1970s 
patched together to deal with 2,500 jobless claims a week — sagged and 
shattered as more than 200,000 people tried to register for benefits.“Fourteen
 thousand attempts to call the call center, starting at 7:59 a.m. and 
ending at 4:15 p.m. Not once did I get through,” said Andreas Vandever, a
 Herington, Kansas, veteran who was sacked in January during a 
management shakeup. “The biggest enemy we have in this state is the 
Kansas Department of Labor.”Beth Bell, an out-of-work mechanic, called Maryland Department of Labor’s phone system “soul-crushing.”TaShyra
 Marshall, a single mother from New Orleans, told state lawmakers she 
hasn’t been able to figure out how she can afford the laptop or internet
 service her children will need for remote learning.“I
 can’t provide for my kids off of the regular wage that I get. School is
 coming up. I’ll probably be working at home with my children for 
school,’’ Marshall said. “… With the wage that I’m getting, it’s like 
$118, I can’t provide a laptop for my kids, can’t provide the internet 
for my kids, can’t provide the rent for my kids. … Till we figure out a 
better way how to maneuver around this thing … we need the $600.”Problems
 in the Pelican State prompted state Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, to 
introduce a resolution on behalf of the Louisiana Legislature calling on
 <a href="https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1183476">Congress to extend the $600 payments</a> beyond Friday.The maneuver seemed unlikely on Thursday to break the D.C. logjam.<h2>Bigger implications</h2>Many
 people who are dreading the loss — or even the interruption — of the 
$600 weekly unemployment supplement wouldn’t have been considered part 
of the “working poor” when they still had jobs.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1596206048285.jpeg" alt="Kelly Cruse of Reynoldsburg poses for a portrait near Parsons Avenue in Columbus, Ohio on July 28, 2020. Cruse is self-employed as an insurance salesperson and survives on the $600 subsidy that has been added to unemployment payments but will end this week. (Brooke LaValley/ Ohio Capital Journal)" />
 <figcaption>Kelly Cruse of Reynoldsburg poses for a portrait near Parsons Avenue in Columbus, Ohio on July 28, 2020. Cruse is self-employed as an insurance salesperson and survives on the $600 subsidy that has been added to unemployment payments but will end this week. (Brooke LaValley/ Ohio Capital Journal)</figcaption>
 </figure>They include Kelly Cruse, 45, of Columbus, Ohio.&nbsp;She
 was self-employed, selling annuities and cash-value life insurance 
until business dried up when the pandemic struck. Now she’s concerned 
that she won’t be able to keep up the rent on her $1,300-per-month 
apartment.“It’s stressful,” she said. “I’m so used to working every day and doing my thing and setting my appointments.”And
 if there are many more like her, that means evictions will go up. 
Homelessness would make job-finding harder and more of their landlords 
will lose rent checks and be foreclosed upon.Vintner, the Wells Fargo economist, said such knock-on effects to ending the unemployment supplement could be widespread.“Certainly,
 if it’s not extended at all, if they let it just go away entirely, we 
would see economic activity … which is already paused a little bit in a 
lot of states when we saw a resurgence in COVID cases. … Economic 
activity would fall back a little bit and put the recovery at risk,” he 
said. “I think it’s a risk not worth taking.”That
 would be a risk to an economy that already isn’t working well for a 
huge segment of the country, Conway, of the Aspen Institute, said. A 
disproportionate share of the people who are now unemployed had service 
jobs that paid so poorly that they still needed government benefits and 
food banks just to survive.“The truth is that work has not been enough to support a very large proportion of working families,” she said.Marty Schladen has been a reporter for decades, working in Indiana, Texas and other places before returning to his native Ohio to work at The Columbus Dispatch in 2017 and coming to the Ohio Capital Journal in 2020. He's won state and national journalism awards for investigations into utility regulation, public corruption, the environment, prescription drug spending and other matters.Reporting contributors 
include: Jerod MacDonald-Evoy of Arizona Mirror; Chase Woodruff of 
Colorado Newsline; Laura Cassels of Florida Phoenix; Ross Williams of 
Georgia Recorder; Clark Kauffman of the Iowa Capital Dispatch; Tim 
Carpenter of Kansas Reflector; Jarvis DeBerry of Louisiana Illuminator; 
Dan Neumann of Maine Beacon; Bruce DePuyt of Maryland Matters; C.J.
 Moore and Allison Donahue of Michigan Advance; Ricardo Lopez of 
Minnesota Reformer; Hugh Jackson of Nevada Current; Rob Schofield of 
N.C. Policy Watch; Stephen Caruso of Pennsylvania Capital-Star; Holly 
McCall of Tennessee Lookout; Ned Oliver of Virginia Mercury; and Erik 
Gunn of Wisconsin Examiner.

Balky technology, expiring benefits worry workers, state leaders