unemployment insurance

June 25, 2021 - A report from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General found that several Southern states failed to deliver unemployment payments in a timely manner. In Georgia, for example, about 80,000 unemployment applications remain in limbo.  

December 4, 2020 - Victoria Bowden, 25, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, shares her and other young people's difficult experiences trying to get by during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now a graduate student intern with the Southern Economic Advancement Project, she offers practical ideas for fixing the systems that put young Southerners at risk of heavy debt, poverty, homelessness, and mental illness.

April 2, 2020 - Many states and local communities in the South have ordered restaurants to move to takeout-only to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus, and business is down even in places where they're still open. That means tough times for low-wage food servers, especially given the stingy unemployment benefits offered in some states.

July 24, 2015 - A new study finds that child poverty has risen nationally, with over a quarter of children in the South living below the poverty line. But the region has also seen improvements in child health insurance coverage and in educational achievement.

June 4, 2014 - A new conservative advocacy group called Carolina Rising says a falling unemployment rate is good news for North Carolina's economy. But economists warn of ominous developments behind the numbers, including people dropping out of the workforce and a shift toward low-wage jobs. Meanwhile, state lawmakers are considering new cuts to unemployment benefits.

January 3, 2014 - A by-the-numbers look at the political battle underway in North Carolina, where a a right-wing legislature and administration backed by monied special interests is being challenged by a grassroots protest movement that's now spreading to other states.

October 28, 2013 - Leaders of North Carolina's Moral Monday movement are inviting the public to sign on to an open letter urging Gov. Pat McCrory to convene a "Special Redemption Session" of the legislature to reconsider recent decisions denying Medicaid expansion and cutting unemployment benefits.