Hot Summer in Illinois

[osoab]

I have to add the pic of the dude and the comment. He is in one of the "trendier" cafes in town.

Extended jobless benefits ending in Illinois (http://www.news-gazette.com/news/business/economy/2012-05-05/extended-jobless-benefits-ending-illinois.html)



CHAMPAIGN — Carl Agoston said he was shocked to learn his unemployment benefits will end this month, as a result of the state's unemployment rate going down.

Agoston, laid off in October 2010 as a mental health counselor at the Champaign County Correctional Center, said he was notified Wednesday his extended benefits were coming to an end.

Agoston has been seeking jobs in mental health and addictions since being laid off. But as the single parent of a 15-year-old son, "I'm going to have to look at whatever outside of that range," he said.

He said he'll wait tables, if that's what it takes.

The federal extended-benefit program will end May 12 in Illinois, because Illinois' falling unemployment rate makes the state no longer eligible for that money. (What's the number for "not in work force")
The extended-benefit program provides 20 weeks of unemployment insurance, on top of 79 other weeks.

But for a state to continue to be eligible for extended benefits, the three-month moving average of the state's unemployment rate must be at least 10 percent higher than the same period in any one of the previous three years.

On Wednesday, Illinois said it no longer meets that requirement. The state unemployment rate, which peaked at 11.4 percent in January 2010, fell to 8.8 percent in March of this year.

Final payments will be issued during the two weeks following May 12. After that, Agoston will no longer get unemployment compensation that, for him, amounts to about $13 an hour.

The Champaign man said he and his son will have to make do on less money. At the same time, he realizes people working minimum-wage jobs get less per hour than what he got from unemployment compensation.

Before working for the correctional center, Agoston said he worked for the Champaign County Mental Health Center and Prairie Center.

While out of a job, he "did a bunch of volunteer work" and got paid for working with an addictions group a few hours a week, he said.

"Trying to open my own business wasn't an option," he added.

Agoston said he has been applying for positions at Parkland College and the University of Illinois in psychology, research and academic advising, and hopes to land a job locally.

"I've lived here now for 18 years, and my entire career has taken place in the community," he said.

Agoston said he might have to consider moving away to take a job, but realizes there are costs involved in relocating.

In announcing the end of extended benefits this week, Jay Rowell, director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security, hailed the drop in the unemployment rate, but noted "there are still those struggling to find work."

"I encourage anyone who is unemployed or underemployed to visit IllinoisJobLink.com, where they will find more than 90,000 job openings," he said in a release.

That website allows businesses to create want-ads that require specific skills and search resumes using keywords such as salary, educational attainment and location.

Now that the extended-benefit program is ending in Illinois, the maximum number of weeks of unemployment compensation will drop to 79 weeks — and that number could drop further by year's end.

The 79 weeks are divided between regular benefits — paid for by Illinois businesses — and four tiers of Emergency Unemployment Compensation paid for by the federal government.

But under current law, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program is scheduled to end Dec. 29, according to the state release.
http://assets.news-gazette.com/sites/all/files/imagecache/300x300_width_height_scale/images/2012/05/04/20120504-164053-pic-54280448.jpg

Carl Agoston goes online to check for job openings at Cafe Kopi in Champaign on Friday, May 4, 2012. He is facing the cancellation of long-term unemployment benefits


So what do all the sheep do without their 13 bucks an hour for sitting on their asses? (I know the benefit is weighted to previous salary)

I wonder what he paid for his cup of joe on the table? $2.00? I haven't been to the place myself.

[Book]

http://assets.news-gazette.com/sites/all/files/imagecache/300x300_width_height_scale/images/2012/05/04/20120504-164053-pic-54280448.jpg

Always eager to work and dressed for a job interview.

::)

[Sparky]

Not sure if this is off topic, but I wanted to comment on this:

"But for a state to continue to be eligible for extended benefits, the three-month moving average of the state's unemployment rate must be at least 10 percent higher than the same period in any one of the previous three years."

One more reason government is messed up. We make our rules based on ill-conceived formulas, rather than sound judgement.

In my state, we have extensive standardized testing for students in public school, which I'm okay with to some degree, though they've gone overboard. Anyway, rules were put in place to encourage performance, and the competition between school districts is very high (mostly because it impacts real estate value).

One of the rules is that your school district must exhibit a measurable improvement in performance each year, otherwise it gets identified as an "underperforming district". Very bad for real estate.

Anyway, some of the schools got so good that their scores were remarkably high. Problem is, they reached the point of diminishing returns, and could not possibly get any higher. So one year, several of these top performing schools simply maintained their excellence. But since they did not exhibit an improvement, they were all categorized as "underperforming"! Stupid fvks.

[osoab]

Not completely off topic and a good point to bring up. Could you even trust the validity of the school test scores with some of the bigger scandals that have come out in the past year?


I don't think Illinois's job market has improved at all.

We can't use the BLS's numbers. We know these are so massaged for outcome it is pathetic.

I see this as an election year move by massaging the numbers. Politicians get to say they brought down unemployment and .gov will get a whole lot more people clamoring for .gov support fairly quickly.

[osoab]

http://assets.news-gazette.com/sites/all/files/imagecache/300x300_width_height_scale/images/2012/05/04/20120504-164053-pic-54280448.jpg

Always eager to work and dressed for a job interview.

::)

I wonder how many tats the guy got while on EUE.

[Book]

I wonder how many tats the guy got while on EUE.



http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/fuck-you-mugshot.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Q5GWc46SESE/SdcBfwSsC0I/AAAAAAAAAjY/aYAqov6LdNg/s400/Fuck-the-systsem.jpg

https://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lszgmveIIn1r2i1edo3_500.jpg

Avoid Common Resume Mistakes

1. Typos and Grammatical Errors
Your resume needs to be grammatically perfect. If it isn’t, employers will read between the lines and draw not-so-flattering conclusions about you, like: “This person can’t write,” or “This person obviously doesn’t care.”
2. Lack of Specifics
Employers need to understand what you’ve done and accomplished. For example:
A. Worked with employees in a restaurant setting.
B. Recruited, hired, trained and supervised more than 20 employees in a restaurant with $2 million in annual sales.
Both of these phrases could describe the same person, but details and specifics in example B will more likely grab an employer’s attention.
3. Attempting One Size Fits All
Whenever you try to develop a one-size-fits-all resume to send to all employers, you almost always end up with something employers will toss in the recycle bin. Employers want you to write a resume specifically for them. They expect you to clearly show how and why you fit the position in a specific organization.
4. Highlighting Duties Instead of Accomplishments
It’s easy to slip into a mode where you simply start listing job duties on your resume. For example:
• Attended group meetings and recorded minutes.
• Worked with children in a day-care setting.
• Updated departmental files.
Employers, however, don’t care so much about what you’ve done as what you’ve accomplished in your various activities. They’re looking for statements more like these:
• Used laptop computer to record weekly meeting minutes and compiled them in a Microsoft Word-based file for future organizational reference.
• Developed three daily activities for preschool-age children and prepared them for a 10-minute holiday program performance.
• Reorganized 10 years’ worth of unwieldy files, making them easily accessible to department members.
5. Going on Too Long or Cutting Things Too Short
Despite what you may read or hear, there are no real rules governing the length of your resume. Why? Because human beings, who have different preferences and expectations where resumes are concerned, will be reading it.
That doesn’t mean you should start sending out five-page resumes, of course. Generally speaking, you usually need to limit yourself to a maximum of two pages. But don’t feel you have to use two pages if one will do. Conversely, don’t cut the meat out of your resume simply to make it conform to an arbitrary one-page standard.
6. A Bad Objective
Employers do read your resume’s objective statement, but too often they plow through vague pufferies like, “Seeking a challenging position that offers professional growth.” Give employers something specific and, more importantly, something that focuses on their needs as well as your own. Example: “A challenging entry-level marketing position that allows me to contribute my skills and experience in fund-raising for nonprofits.”
7. No Action Verbs
Avoid using phrases like “responsible for.” Instead, use action verbs: “Resolved user questions as part of an IT help desk serving 4,000 students and staff.”
8. Leaving Off Important Information
You may be tempted, for example, to eliminate mention of the jobs you’ve taken to earn extra money for school. Typically, however, the soft skills you’ve gained from these experiences (e.g., work ethic, time management) are more important to employers than you might think.
9. Visually Too Busy
If your resume is wall-to-wall text featuring five different fonts, it will most likely give the employer a headache. So show your resume to several other people before sending it out. Do they find it visually attractive? If what you have is hard on the eyes, revise.
10. Incorrect Contact Information
I once worked with a student whose resume seemed incredibly strong, but he wasn’t getting any bites from employers. So one day, I jokingly asked him if the phone number he’d listed on his resume was correct. It wasn’t. Once he changed it, he started getting the calls he’d been expecting. Moral of the story: Double-check even the most minute, taken-for-granted details — sooner rather than later.
Coverletters
Coverletters should NEVER be one size fits all. Think of resume cover letters as jalapeno peppers-small, but packing a wallop. Stating specifics that attract you to that company will show HR that you have done your homework and know you are a fit.
Get tips on how to write a killer cover letter. (http://saleshq.monster.com/careers/articles/217-how-to-write-a-killer-resume-cover-letter)

::)

[osoab]

And another. Skim the comments.

Day care providers take budget hit (http://www.news-gazette.com/news/politics-and-government/2012-05-04/day-care-providers-take-budget-hit.html)




SPRINGFIELD — Illinois' budget crunch is taking a toll on thousands of day care providers and families in a state-subsidized child care program, and it could last for several months.

The state Department of Human Services has informed child care providers it has no more money to pay them through June 30 for the Child Care Assistance Program, which helps pay day care costs for working and student families, and a payment delay is immediately in effect starting with April payments.

Providers were notified they shouldn't expect to be paid again until July after the Legislature approves the 2013 budget.

Department of Human Services spokeswoman Januari Smith said the state needs $73.6 million to pay child care providers through the end of the fiscal year.

Additional funds to make up the shortfall have been requested from the General Assembly, but no more money has yet been forthcoming, said Kelly Kraft, a budget spokeswoman for Gov. Pat Quinn.

"I had three mommies leave this morning crying," Paula Rebman, a longtime home day care operator in Urbana, said Thursday after being notified by the state.

Rebman said payments for half the eight children she provides care for at her home come through the state program.

With typical backlogs, Rebman said, she doubts she'll see any payments before August.

She plans to keep her day care home open and is struggling to keep the state clients she has, she said. But she's also told parents they'll have to come to some resolution with her.

"I can't work without pay and they can't go to work without care," she added.

The child care program subsidizes the cost of day care for eligible parents who are working or in school, and parents make a copayment depending on their income, according to Brenda Eastham, director of operations at the University of Illinois Child Care Resource Center.

There are 2,000 day care centers, both licensed and license-exempt, in the six counties (Champaign, Douglas, Vermilion, Iroquois, Macon and Piatt) in the UI center's service area, she said.

Kraft said the state is out of money to pay day care providers because they're paid from the same fund that pays the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and TANF has exhausted funds for the fiscal year.

Demand on TANF has grown, and federal law requires that TANF be paid first, she said.

There were more than 49,435 TANF cases in March 2012 — more than 7,000 more than there were in March 2011 — at a cost of more than $14.5 million, according to information provided by Human Services.

"That said, with child care, we are working diligently with the General Assembly to get this situation resolved," Kraft said.

In March alone, the state spent $77 million on the Child Care Assistance Program, according to Smith

One local mother of two, Jessica Simpson of Urbana, has already had to start thinking about some hard choices.

The SNAP outreach coordinator for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank and outreach coordinator at her church, Simpson says the state program pays half the cost of keeping her 3-year-old daughter at Rebman's home day care.

"If she doesn't get paid, then I have no day care. If I don't have day care, I can't work. So there are just going to be some hard choices that are going to have to be made in order for me to keep my child in day are so I can work and provide," she said.

Not only that, Simpson said, she's facing medical expenses.

"I would hate for it to become a choice between medicine and child care," she said.

Moving her child somewhere else is also a choice she doesn't want to face. Her daughter, born prematurely, is thriving in Rebman's care while she is at work, she said.

"When we found Miss Paula, it was like having a professional day care center. Her whole home is dedicated to the children," she said.

Rebman has high academic standards, but she also bakes cookies with the children, does project with them, has a back yard play area and parties for the kids and their families. And her daughter is very happy there, Simipson says.

"Miss Paula loves the children that she is connected with," Simpson added. She still has children that she has been with as a baby come back and visit her. She is just an amazing woman."

Eastham said the payment delay isn't the only bad news in store for parents on the state subsidy.

Eligibility has already been cut, from 200 percent of the federal poverty level to 185 percent, and in Quinn's proposed budget, "they're talking about taking it down to 150 percent," she said.

For a family of four, the 2012 federal poverty level is $23,050 in annual income.

Time for a Medicare/Medicaid reduction. I wonder how many of the prisons that are slated to close actually occur.

Leachfuckers will be uniting in force with all these cuts.

[osoab]

Another bleeding heart story about the loss of subsidized childcare.

Read the comments.

(http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x1260492264/Subsidy-threat-alarms-parents-child-care-providers)Subsidy threat alarms parents, child-care providers (http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x1260492264/Subsidy-threat-alarms-parents-child-care-providers)

[Awoke]

imo the guy in the OP is milking the system anyways. No one who is seriously, and I mean seriously, looking for work would go that long without a job.

[undgrd]

Be honest.

If you couldn't find a job making more than what the state would pay, you'd take the job? Your time could be better spent learning a new skill set to aid you in your new job while looking for a better job.

[Awoke]

I don't know what the state pays, but I know Unemployment insurance in Canada is not much more than welfare.

[osoab]

Be honest.

If you couldn't find a job making more than what the state would pay, you'd take the job? Your time could be better spent learning a new skill set to aid you in your new job while looking for a better job.

Honestly,

I couldn't sit on my ass day in and day out expecting to find a job in a very narrow field of work with multiple others competing for the job while sucking off the .gov tit.

I have no sympathy for those that suck, suck, and suck some more then whine when they cannot continue the suck.


This guy would have stayed on another 79 weeks if he could.

[undgrd]

Honestly,

I couldn't sit on my ass day in and day out expecting to find a job in a very narrow field of work with multiple others competing for the job while sucking off the .gov tit.
I have no sympathy for those that suck, suck, and suck some more then whine when they cannot continue the suck.


This guy would have stayed on another 79 weeks if he could.


Well I said spend the time building your skill set...not sitting around. Personally, I wouldn't feel all that bad because I've been paying into that system for years. I've never had to use it and I hope I never do.

I agree...the goofball in this instance would have lived the remainder of his life this way if he could.

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

That guy probably didn't do shit while he had a job either.

They tell us not to feed the wild animals because they will lose the drive to feed themselves. I think that applies all the way up the food chain.

[osoab]

I don't know what the state pays, but I know Unemployment insurance in Canada is not much more than welfare.

The article said he got an equivalent of 13 frn/hour.

They didn't say if that was before or after taxes. They tax UI in Illinois. I don't know about other states.

I think UI is about 50% of former wage in Illinois. So he was making at least 26 an hour when sucking off the golden tit of .gov.