Unemployment premiums to go up
Maine's unemployment insurance premiums will increase a total of $54 million, but the state's unemployment trust fund will be one of the few in the nation that will remain solvent after the recession.
Unemployment insurance premiums for 2010 are set to increase, due to a hike in total benefits paid during the recession, according to a press release from the Maine Department of Labor. Premiums are adjusted automatically every year based on the amount of reserves in the state unemployment trust fund. The trust fund is projected to pay nearly $254 million in benefits to unemployed workers in 2009, and only $83 million in employer premiums is expected to be collected.
The increase is "really bad news for employers," Peter Gore, vice president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, told Capitol News Service. David Clough, Maine director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said some businesses could be forced to cut jobs, scrap wage increases or invest less in business growth.
However, Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said Maine's trust fund is one of only a handful in the country that will emerge from the recession solvent. As many as 40 states have had to take out loans in 2010 in order to continue paying unemployment benefits, borrowing a total of $20 million, she said in the release.
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