In April 2020, 23 million workers lost their jobs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During April, the unemployment rate peaked at an unprecedented level of 14.7% (in the last 80 years) before declining to a still-elevated level of 6.9% in October. Due to the large amount of uncertainty in the economy, it is estimated that high unemployment will persist in the next few years, despite the significant gains seen in employment since April.
Human Resources professionals can help laid off workers by providing a prepared list of resources such as unemployment compensation, eviction protection, credit card debt and loans. Compassion and empathy can also go a long way to ease the difficult transition for employees. Employers may face rising tax rates for unemployment compensation during this period as their rates are determined partially by how many employees are claiming unemployment benefits.
In this blog we posed the following question, do you know what the answer is? Read on to test your knowledge and see if you know the correct answer:
Which of the following is not true about unemployment compensation?
a) It was established as part of the Social Security Act of 1935.
b) Employees are eligible for unemployment compensation from their first day of hire.
c) Employees terminated for misconduct are not eligible for unemployment.
d) Fraud is a serious problem for unemployment insurance programs.
