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What’s Wrong with Georgia’s Department of Labor?
Numerous media articles for the past year have chronicled the problems Georgia’s Department of Labor (GA DOL) has had processing the deluge of unemployment claims brought on by the pandemic. And it has been a deluge: Before COVID, the GA DOL was receiving a monthly average of 24,000 applications per month in 2019 for unemployment. But in March 2020 claims jumped to 312,520 and then in April to 1,353,928. It is an understatement to say that the GA DOL has had difficulty ramping up to process this large number of claims.
Social media and news articles have been full of complaints about the DOL: closed offices, unanswered phones, long waits for benefits, lost applications. These delays can be close to life and death for some Georgians. People have been evicted, have had homes foreclosed, and had to resort to donated food lines. While it is true that Georgia is not the only state that saw huge increases in unemployment applications as businesses shut down due to COVID, many Georgians have had difficult times dealing with the GA DOL to receive their weekly statutory entitlements.
One article from last summer illustrated the almost absurd straits of the GA DOL; a woman with the Twitter handle “Feisty Heifer” sent direct messages to DOL Commissioner Mark Butler so frequently about her unemployment dilemma that he finally answered her directly. Later she was able to help hundreds by using her contact with Butler. And at her website it’s clear the level of work and frustration this help must have involved. “She has a big heart for people,” Butler said. “I commend her. It has been a big help to me.” He also is quoted as saying he had (at that time) 50 staff to answer calls exclusively and they get 35,000 calls per day. Assuming even a 12 hour shift, that’s almost 60 calls per hour, which may explain why so many calls go unanswered. Butler sounded almost chipper that this woman, whose name is actually Sabrina Hogan, has pitched in to help. But this unpaid volunteer is not an institutional, long term response, and this haphazard solution may not be providing other citizens with the professional help to which they are entitled.
Unemployment Insurance (UI) was created during the New Deal Era as a social safety net where employers are taxed to provide income assistance for employees who lose their jobs through no fault of theirs. UI payments help keep families afloat and dollars flowing into local economies. During the current pandemic, Congress first supplemented UI benefits through the CARES Act in March of 2020. Different enhancements and extensions have been enacted and are still in place until September 2021.
But the backlog of applications persisted last year. In December 2020, an article in Stateline, a publication of the Pew Charitable Trust, pointed out that Georgia is not alone in the slow processing of claims and being overwhelmed by the vast number of applications. One expert, Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the progressive Century Foundation, stated “The inability of states to climb out of the hole of untimely payment is an example of the system failures exposed by COVID-19....The federal government ought to be pressing them to understand their backlog and bottlenecks and coming up with solutions.”
Unfortunately, Georgia was behind already as the pandemic settled in. This article surveys state benefits and includes Georgia within the top 10 “least supportive unemployment systems,” as are several of the other southern states. Before the federal extra $300 mandated payment, the maximum payment in Georgia was $365 per week, and the maximum length of benefits was 14 weeks. This is less than $1500 per month. It’s hard to imagine families affording rent, much less gas and food for this low amount.
“It’s not surprising that unemployment systems couldn’t handle the influx from COVID,” says one Atlantan who was on unemployment last year. “They couldn’t handle regular unemployment numbers. UIO systems are basically meant to protect employers and to discourage people from applying. It’s hard to apply, websites break down, and states don’t fund enough people to handle the workload.”
The UI Road Forward
As we start the second half of 2021, the pandemic is hopefully waning, and the numbers of UI applications, both new, still to be processed, and those on appeal are also dropping. However, a large number of Georgians are still struggling. Most federal pandemic UI benefits are scheduled to expire nationally in early September; yet Gov. Kemp announced in late May that Georgia would discontinue at the end of June the federal extra $300 payment for 347,000 Georgia UI recipients, and do the same for the 104,000 self-employed, gig-workers and part-time workers. This is a move that 25 other states, mostly Republican led, have done also. Gov. Kemp and other Republican governors claim that unemployment payments were keeping people from going back to work.
Interestingly, the idea of prematurely ending enhanced benefits has been advocated by right-wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation. It fits right in with a long-standing and basic tenet of the Republican Party of a weak social safety net and a government so “small it will fit down the drain of a bathtub” to paraphrase GOP tax reduction advocate Grover Norquist. And like lemmings, Georgia Republican leaders fall right in line in move to cut benefits.
Most economists disagree that enhanced unemployment benefits are delaying the recovery. This good report points out scaling back UI benefits could slow the state’s recovery, and it can negatively affect Black and Brown recipients more. “From the start of pandemic-level UI enrollment in April 2020, up to May 2021, UI enrollment among Black and Hispanic/Latinx workers declined at a pace nearly 10 percent slower than white and Asian workers, marking a recovery that has been slower to reach Black and Hispanic/Latinx Georgians. Among Georgia’s jobless workers still turning to the UI safety net in May, claims among Black Georgians were 37 percent higher than all others." And not surprisingly, Georgia women applied for benefits 11% more than men, most likely because of lack of adequate childcare.
DOL Commissioner Mark Butler and the GOP legislators seem allergic to suggestions to improve UI delivery that have been successful in other states, such as calling in the national guard, or privatization to supplement certain DOL staff functions. Moreover, despite DOL struggles, the legislature approved a new budget that started July 1st that cuts the DOL budget by 7% from its FY2020 pre-pandemic budget, according to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
“Governor Kemp’s cutting back of the UI benefits is a scandal,” observes state Senator Nan Orrock “It demonstrates the total lack of concern and the total cold-heartedness of the GOP toward households and families that have been under the greatest stress. It’s astonishing and revealing and lets you know that they are not concerned for the welfare of Georgia citizens. Once again, the Georgia Republicans refuse federal funds coming back to our state, that we citizens have paid with our tax dollars, to be that bridge over troubled waters in these hard times.”
Also, in June, the state of Georgia was sued for repeated violations of state and federal laws by the GA DOL. More information is here, including a link to the complaint.
Reforms Needed Longer Term
The Georgia Department of Labor had a weak infrastructure before the pandemic and now serious reform is in order both by the DOL and through legislation by the Georgia legislature. And reform is required from the federal level. The Economic Policy Institute, in this report, advocates for a system that gives workers a seat at the decision-making table and is based on equity. Specific reforms that Congress should consider include:
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Guarantee universal minimum standards for benefits eligibility, duration, and levels, with states free to enact more expansive benefits.
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Reform financing of UI to eliminate incentives for states and employers to exclude workers and reduce benefits.
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Update UI eligibility to match the modern workforce, and guarantee benefits to everyone looking for work but still jobless through no fault of their own.
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Expand UI benefit duration to provide longer protection during normal times and use better measures of labor market distress to automatically extend and sustain benefits during downturns.
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Increase UI benefits to levels working families can survive on.
Sharon Shelton Corpening, an Atlanta unemployment activist, wrote in the same report “... we, the COVID-unemployed, have been accused of choosing a UI-benefits-based lifestyle instead of rejoining the workforce. Our answer to that narrative is a resounding “no!” We simply want work that pays wages and salaries that cover the rising cost of living. We want to grow in our aptitude, talents, and skills, and use them as they should be used—to make a reasonable living. Instead, we are being asked to accept a form of financial abuse by accepting work that traps us in a cycle of poverty and stagnation. So, we are pushing back. It’s that simple.”
One more important thing to touch on: Unemployed workers are organizing and fighting back. From forming Facebook groups for mutual aid and advice, to marching to the still closed DOL offices. If you have experienced the Georgia Department of Labor personally, or if you are concerned and want to ally with those directly affected, the North Georgia Labor Council is sponsoring an action this Wednesday July 27. Gather at 10:30 outside the Georgia Chamber of Commerce (270 Peachtree St. 30303) and march to the Department of Labor offices a few blocks away at 223 Courtland St.
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