Extensions and the maximum financial benefits
If you're out of work, you're not alone, as the state's newest jobless report shows. But what does it take to find a new job? Michigan's unemployment rate is still over 15 percent. But many people on unemployment just learned they also could be eligible for another 20 weeks of benefits.
Michigan Works is *not the same as the Unemployment Office. But Michigan Works employees can often answer some of your questions. One big concern for those out of a job - will they be eligible for the most recent unemployment extension? Jane Sage says, "people will be notified, and that's about all we know. People will be notified by Unemployment if they're eligible, and that will happen between now and the end of December."
One of those people searching for a job is Susan Parker. She says she's been on the job hunt for the past ten months, devoting forty hours a week - or more - to the search. And she says whether you're looking for work or trying to get help with the unemployment office - her advice is the same: "Just gotta keep pushing and prodding and looking for the right connection, the people you need to talk to, because you get a lot of the runaround."
There are several resources online for people looking for work, like www.traversecadillacjobs.com, which you can find here on our website. But people receiving unemployment must use the Michigan Talent Bank website.(https://www.michworks.org/mtb/pages/seeker/Jobseeker.jsp) That's because the Talent Bank is the source for the state's Unemployment Office to make sure those receiving benefits are actively searching for work. Sage says, "if you are registered for work in the Michigan Talent Bank and [if you are active and] current, if you're not doing that Unemployment will eventually recognize that and they can withhold your check."
Thousands of Americans are expected to use up their benefits by the end of the year - but with the latest unemployment extension of an extra 20 weeks- what's the motivation to keep looking for work? Sage says "you do not get as much as when you were working. The maximum is about $380 a week."
But the unemployment office evaluates each claim on a case by case basis, depending on your wages and salary before you became unemployed. For many workers, the weekly checks are far less than that. Sage says the small unemployment checks are motivation enough for most people to look for a new job. "Once they get their check and realize, 'wow, this isn't what I was getting before,' I think that's when it really hits."
In the meantime, looking for that new career is in itself - a full time job. While the state's unemployment numbers for October were just released, county-by-county numbers have not yet been announced.
To visit the Help Center in Gaylord: 400 W. Main, Suite 102 (West of S. Michigan Avenue)
Or in Marquette: 2833 US 41 West, across from Westwood Mall
Here are the Unemployment Contact Numbers as provided by Michigan Works!
Filing A Claim (8:30 am-4:30 pm) 1-866-500-0017
MARVIN (automated line for those already receiving benefits) 1-866-638-3993
Employer Help Line: 1-800-638-3994
Fraud Line: 1-800-822-1122
website: www.michigan.gov/uia
