Although the unemployment rate in North Carolina still hovers around 10 percent, employers are struggling to fill vacancies and are forced to hire workers from outside of the state.  Although the irony is not lost on North Carolina workers or employers, there seems little either can do to tackle the deep-seated issues that have created this situation.

According to a survey by the North Carolina Association of Workforce Development Boards, businesses throughout North Carolina cannot find workers to fill in skilled positions. The survey questioned over 1,,150 managers from all 100 counties in North Carolina. The survey was a follow-up exercise to a similar 2007, which also highlighted the vacuum of skilled workers that exist in many employment sectors of North Carolina’s industry.

Congress approved the federal extension benefits bill last Friday which continues federal benefits up to the end of the year. This is great news for long-term unemployed workers in North Carolina that depend on federal benefits as their only source of income. However, in order for the bill to pass Democrats were forced to compromise and accept several caveats, which will reduce the number of weeks workers in North Carolina can claim for federal benefits.

Emergency measures taken by Congress and the President last month provided North Carolina’s Employment Security Division with the authority to extend Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits (EUC) and Extended Benefits (EB) by two months.

Emergency Unemployment Compensation Benefits Extension

This extension increases allows unemployed workers who have exhausted their state unemployment compensation benefits or will do so before February 26, 2012. Note that unemployed workers who are already receiving EUC benefits may only apply for additional EUC tiers by March 4, 2012. Unless there is another extension of unemployment benefits, workers who exhaust their current tier benefits after March 4, 2012 will no longer qualify for federal EUC benefits.

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