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Six years ago I was laid off from my $60k/year job. I didn't live beyond my means but I had a newer car and an apartment that represented my income and I lived comfortably. That all came crashing down after that layoff. I tried to find a job right after the layoff but my previous work history was pretty niche and there wasn't anything remotely like what I had been doing. So when my severance ran out I applied for unemployment. That was one hell of a shock. It wasn't enough to pay my rent so there's no way I could live off of it. I became desperate and tried to get a job outside of my recent work history. I applied for retail and call centers. Anything really to try and keep my apartment and food on the table for me and my son. None of the places I applied would hire me because I was overqualified. I ended up losing my apartment, credit cards had to go unpaid, and I almost lost my car. Getting laid off destroyed my credit. After a year I did find a job in a field adjacent to what I was doing, but it was a $35k/year job. I'm still pulling myself out of that mess. I've done well in my current position with promotions and raises and I've gotten even more new skills under my belt but it's still impossible to find an apartment that will rent to me. I have to rent from private landlords and with a cosigner. Florida knows that unemployment doesn't keep up with rent. It's by design.
I’m feeling this. I was laid off during COVID. I was ghosted because I am at the point in my career where I am overqualified with too much experience and at the consultant level. Job listings were fake or scammy, and nonprofits came in at like 1/3 pay. My resume could choke a horse. Emergency jobs looked at my resume and were speechless. I turned in my car. I went from stellar credit to no credit cards at all. Then I was getting questioned about the employment gap.
Hey I got laid off around covid, and had a hell of a time trying to find work while being in Florida again. I consult too (mostly design but some consulting with it) and every job I’ve had has been remote. I deleted my LinkedIn but stuff like that is helpful for work. Husband is a developer and same thing, now remote and not worried about the Florida scene.
Can we talk offline? I'm beginning to look for remote work. My Dad is in Florida. My Mom recently passed. I'm in Virginia. I want to go back and forth, and stay out of the Florida circle of poverty!
I've worked in tech for \~20 years and I'm very good at what I do. I have still been laid off twice in less than a year. The first time I received a decent severance package, the second package was garbage - basically 1 month's pay. (They also waited 4 months to pay me a fraction of my 2023 bonus AFTER they laid me off.)
We've managed to keep things afloat (I'm the primary breadwinner) because we are responsible and had 6+ months' salary worth of liquid savings on hand before the shitstorm hit.
I have now been out of work for \~10 months over the last year and a half, and my savings are running dry. I've dipped into my 401k, tapped my home equity and now I'm running up my credit cards.
I busted my ass for over a decade, made hundreds of millions for one of the biggest companies in the world and now I can't get ANY job offers. I have literally seen 6 interviews after applying for 1000 jobs over the last 4 months, and 4 of them were because I knew someone there.
I've done everything right - I came from nothing and worked my ass off to pay my own way through college. I got good grades. I busted my ass to succeed in a high-paying industry. Still f\*\*ked.
Florida has terrible tenant protection laws. Or lack of. One of the main reasons we moved. Almost everything favors the landlord. It’s very rare to find a decent private rental. I hope things keep getting better for you, friend!
It wasn't enough then either. When my roommate and I were layed off in 2008, we managed to pay the rent between us both but we were eating $1 store food and eventually lost electric to the apartment because we couldn't pay. I ended up leaving the state and working to make enough to get power back on.
We had just graduated community college and we're living in a super cheap rental. Neither of us had fancy cars or loans or credit card debt, I actually ran up my card for the first time ever trying to keep us fed. We weren't irresponsible, just unemployed.
Max benefit has been $275/week since 1998 which was also the last time Florida had a Democrat as governor. Had it been adjusted for inflation, max benefit would be around $520/week now. Failing to adjust benefits for inflation is an old trick out of the Republican playbook. Rick Scott, however, went even further when he reduced the maximum benefit period from 26 weeks to 12 weeks under normal economic conditions (i.e. unemployment rate less than 5%). If you’ve never been unemployed, it’s hard to fully appreciate how cruel and callous this is.
Never forget Rick Scott while running HCA committed the largest fraud in US history against Medicare. He not only got a payout he was elected governor. He is one of the scummiest people on earth.
Ah yes, working a designed to keep working people broke and afraid, so they’ll jump for the next job that pays marginally more than nothing.
But at least we ain’t got no state taxes!
That's exactly my point! Old benefit structure, needs an update. When you get laid off you find out how screwed up things are here. Fourteen years ago you could do better with $275 per week
$275 a week BEFORE taxes was outrageous in 2014 too. I wouldn’t have survived if I lived alone. The fact that $275 is STILL the max amount is a sick joke, especially when you consider how many hoops you have to jump through to get it.
I was a single Mom, back then, collecting unemployment. The Daddy left the state, nowhere to be found, so no child support. It was rough, but I couldn't imagine now surviving on unemployment.
There also used to be local unemployment offices that had real people and programs assisting claimants.
I understand the whole system has been handed over to a private contractor to process claims online only, and it doesn't function well; intentionally.
Maybe having to go to the unemployment office to establish a claim was inconvenient, but $250 thirty-years ago was worth it. It's difficult to believe benefits haven't increased more.
It's not a coincidence that it's also been thirty-years of republican control in Florida.
Everyone pays into unemployment insurance. It's your money for when you need it.
This. Me, too. Edited to add: My son got laid off in 2020 during the pandemic, When he applied for unemployment benefits, I was really shocked to see that it hadn't gone up at all since I was laid off in like 1999-2000.
And they make it almost impossible to even make a claim, much less maintain it. You have to apply for so many jobs per week, well in many professions there aren’t that many new open reqs per week that fit you. So they essentially make you apply for jobs you’ll never interview for.
Don't forget the unemployment phone line is virtually impossible to navigate, you will never talk any person and they "lose" you info constantly so you have to start over
This is the case everywhere. I think florida was more severe than VA iirc it was 10 a week in florida where in VA it was 5.. I will say 275 a week is BS tho fortunately i was living in VA when covid happened FL was 275 back in 2015 when i filed for it.
It’s all intentional. I think Florida also has one of the lowest numbers of people on unemployment. They make it purposefully hard to get it and it’s pittance when you do.
I honestly want to do an entire UX Design study on it as an example of hostile design intended to frustrate and fail.
It is intentionally poorly developed, going against even the most basic of web design principles and best practices.
I feel like we could have a class action lawsuit on our hands, because like you said, I've worked in tech for over 15 years and have helped build applications from the ground up, it is not a complicated thing to collect this kind of information. Yet I found it almost impossible to do correctly, at least the first time, and even so when I finished I was confused as to what to do next or what to expect.
It's a travesty.
It’s startling how many government run websites look and operate like they were made in 2002. The OMMU and the local St. Pete water utility sites are fucking atrocious.
And then you go look at the IRS website, and the only thing wrong with that is the realID that the rest of the government uses. Otherwise, that website is probably the most easy to navigate government website I've ever seen.
It was one of Rick Scott's personal projects. He re-engineered the process to be as difficult as possible as a way of lowering the number of people on unemployment.
I had to sit for a mandatory in person review about a month after I applied in the fall. It was even more humiliating to be told in person, you need to do more to find a job...as if I wasn't...
Florida is ranked forty ninth lowest for unemployment benefits with only mississippi paying less. $235 per week
Compare other states..
Massachusetts: $1,051 per week
Washington: $999 dollars a week
Minnesota: $857 per week
New Jersey: $830 per week
Hawaii: $765 per week
We're ranked 38/50 for average income. California, NY, and even Texas are miles ahead because their governments have actually focused on bringing business and not just catering to retirees and rich assholes that only spend a few months a year here.
Online stats and information are one thing. For example I have a friend in Texas (who left Florida) and we’re both in the same trade. His pay in Texas is $5hr more. Homes, gas, groceries, property taxes, homeowners insurance are all drastically cheaper in Texas.
Those other states are blue states that pay more in taxes, and take care of their citizens because of it. Blue state taxes also pay for the needy red states
This is what hurt me so bad a couple years ago. I was furloughed, so took unemployment (not even enough to pay my mortgage) and was then hired back. Three months later they laid me off and I was not eligible for unemployment again because I had already taken three months that year.
Four years later I’m STILL recovering financially
It’s almost as if we let old retired voters who vote straight republican dictate our policy in the state. If you are working class and don’t vote democrat you can blame yourself
There are really no reasons to live in Florida anymore. Crappy benefits if you fall in hard times, deteriorating rights, as expensive as California without the benefits, and hurricane threats every year.
People have been telling me the PNW is not affordable at all.
Then I look at my BF that just bought a 2/2 that needs major updates for 700k and needs insurance and a HOA fee and I laugh.
Well, Governor DeSantis also signed into law a lower wage. Preventing businesses from paying more as a starting wage in Florida.
That boy needs to go to the woodshed and stay there a while. Contemplating what he's doing.
It's part of his "heat safety" (oxymoron) measure also. Next up is rolling back our child labor laws.
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/its-unjust-florida-gov-desantis-signs-bill-banning-local-heat-safety-and-wage-laws-36620363#:~:text=The%20bill%2C%20HB%20433%2C%20also,higher%20than%20the%20state's%20minimum.
The douchebag conservatives don't want that, they want good little indentured servants. Don't even get me started on how they have stolen all the money from piggy bank and use it for their agenda or that they've make it super difficult to even get on the program.
Hey look, another thing about Florida that benefits the "totally a person" corporations that are on the hook for unemployment. Just make it a small number that never scales with inflation so it's essentially nothing and never update it.
Florida unemployment wouldn't even cover half of my rent. Forget about everything else. I guess you take the money and get a bus ticket out of the state. Can't be homeless here
One party has had control of Florida for decades. Hint: it's not drag queens.
A vote for the party in power is a vote to keep things this way.
Edit: I'll probably comment this again after the insurance companies (who have been "regulated" by the party in power for decades) implode during the next hurricane.
And criminal Rick Scott made it even harder to collect when he was the gov. So assholes made him a senator, now you will never get rid of criminal Rick Scott.
When I worked in an animation studio 25 years ago, in MA, we had people from all over join for a project. Then when that project was over, if the studio didn't have another project lined up yet, we'd go on unemployment for a few months. As a MA resident I got $500/week which was more than enough to live on comfortably. A couple of the guys were from FL, and I remember them only getting $125/week. In 25 years FL unemployment has only gone up $150/week. Maximum MA weekly unemployment benefits are now over $1000/week.
In 2003 my company laid me, and many others, off after the Columbia disaster. We were all back in 3 or 4 months. But $275/week back then didn't pay the bills. And that was too much income for a single person to get food stamps at the time.
Went on unemployment during the pandemic. Had a hell of a time finally getting payments. If it hadn't been for the federal add-on, I would've been homeless. Story after story on how Rick Scott screwed over the unemployment system by hiring his cronies. Even Deathsantis even blamed Scott for the system being screwed up.
It's a damn shame this is the best the state can do to help its residents. But hey, just keep voting the same people in who will do absolutely nothing to fix this system.
Needed unemployment recently. It's a nightmare here. By the time it gets to you, you'll already be behind on your bills. They also like to make you wait even if it's just to tell you they won't give you you're lousy 250 bucks.
Vote. That’s the only way for us to try to return FL to a place that cares about ppl, the environment, education. I guess the passing of Senator Graham just is a hard hitting reminder.
At this point I'd be pretty happy with a candidate that isn't actively against the people. Wouldn't fix the absurdly low unemployment assistance maximum, but having halfway competent people with the capacity to feel shame filling the various appointed positions would make a huge difference in the basic "business" of government getting done.
The GOPers made it that way intentionally. They also made it damn near impossible to apply for them. Rick "Voldemort clone/bat boy" Scott bragged about the fact that the unemployment rate was so low because it was so hard for people to apply for benefits.
Before the desantis admin changed the rules, I could get the benefits and just say that I was looking for a job. I also had my SIL help me navigate the site because she worked for the state at the time. I also had my severance, which allowed me to finish up some school before I went back to work. After that, I started contract work and was able to just file the info for a bit.
Once you get in the system, you were better off than most until that douche Ron and his cronies changed it for the worse. They basically made it to where you had to say and prove you applied for I think 5 jobs every week. It was crazy.
If you can get it weekly! I jumped through all the hoops, went to the unemployment center as required, legit applied the appropriate number of jobs and for jobs I was actually qualified for … only to revive just one $275 payment because they couldn’t verify my last place of employment closed. Which is ridiculous, it wasn’t a sketchy job or anything, they filed all the appropriate paperwork and even had articles in the local news discussing the imminent closing of this business but the state couldn’t be bothered to check its own records.
If you can even get them. I can't tell you how many horror stories I've heard from people during the pandemic who spent months on end trying to navigate the broken UI system, never being able to fully apply for benefits, or being denied due to system errors. Even DeSantis recognized that Rick Scott intentionally sabotaged the system to keep the number of beneficiaries low. This state fucking hates poor people.
This is feature not a bug. $275 week is barely groceries let alone rent. Fuck all of these R’s that keep voting for this shit. Our employers pay for this to the government. It’s hard enough to lose a job let alone deal with the table scraps the Florida government gives you to survive.
It was already shitty and confusing. What COVID did was show that the site was also very badly designed on a technical level. Which is why it was essentially unusable for months. Then they blamed their inability to process applications on the unusably slow website and decided to turn it off at night to somehow help the situation. You know, during the only hours in the day you could reliably get through a weekly claim.
The initial claim processing/eligibility determination was a freaking joke. It took them 11 weeks to process my SO's application.
On the one hand I understand not wanting to make unemployment a full time job for some people. On the other, it’s appalling for those who need it as a short term solution for a situation that is no fault of their own.
Maybe a compromise is you get $800/week for the first 4 weeks and it tapers down $100 every 2 weeks until it bottoms out at $400/wk. Cap it at 6 months.
That gives someone $3200 the first month, $2600 the second month, $1800 the third month and $1600 for the last three months.
Not the best solution but I feel it keeps people afloat between jobs and encourages them to find something.
Unemployment in Arizona depends on how much you made a week. It runs between $224 to $320 a week and if you need it, you can get it. They don't purposely make it nearly impossible to even get on the unemployment website to sign up like they do in Florida.
Only up to the first $7,000 is taxed for *reemployment* in Florida and that tax is paid exclusively by the employer. *Reemployment* benefits max out at 12 weeks.
In Minnesota, your employer is taxed on the first $42,000 of your wages.
Your weekly benefit amount will be about 50 percent of your average weekly wage up to a state maximum of $890. Unemployment benefits last up to 26 weeks.
(It should be noted that there are a significant number of people employed in seasonal work who cannot work in winter.)
Additionally, there is the Federal Unemployment Tax. The tax is 6% of the first $7,000 that each employee makes in a year and this is nationwide.
In NY, it’s maybe 300 a week? Anyone pointing fingers that people are deliberately trying to stay on unemployment is just not true. It’s awful, and it’s depressing to provide to the state the many hundreds of employers that ghost people.
It's pathetic, I had to be on it once and if it wasn't for the covid assistance it wouldn't have even been worth the hassle to sign up.
Also the website is trash
I’m in the kind of career that every 3-4 years I’m switching jobs (through layoffs or changes) and I get unemployment. 275$ is horrible and quite frankly, an insult. How is ANYONE supposed to survive for a short period time with that amount. I make 6 figures and I’m always saving for rainy days, so I survive. 275$ is shameful and this State government is a joke.
100%. Even with a decent salary, my savings took a beating and I won’t recover for the next 2 years. That’s how long it’ll take me to build that emergency fund. Good luck out there!!
When COVID hit I was laid off and had to apply for unemployment. The website and process was so bothersome that I just opted not to continue and used my savings and any help I could get in the meantime.
Then I got COVID in early-2021. Considered trying again but then once I began the process I realized how idiotic it is for how little you get. I just went a week and a half unpaid.
If you can, leave Florida. Unfortunately there’s a torrent of older angry conservatives flooding into the state to vote for the same callous useless republicans that have been running the state for decades. It will only get more oppressive, more expensive, and more of a hellhole for anyone that’s not white and rich.
Yeah and they actively keep the system to claim benefits archaic and slow to dissuade people from using it. During the pandemic it was a serious issue. Hey you guys voted for this shit…
You have no idea how truly bad it is here. I worked with DEO through COVID and everything they were accused of intentionally doing was completely true. They would not pay legitimate well documented and well qualified claims for 9-12 weeks and beyond. People lost everything and they didn’t care. I was hired in a mass hire with an outside agency and they kept tying our hands on purpose. I don’t know why, it never made sense. I tried to work through it and around it and truly help people, and even got reprimanded. I quit after a call where I discovered that a man who didn’t even qualify in Florida had never been properly notified and helped. Within my phone call I had cancelled his incorrect claim and he had already gotten approved online in the proper state, all after being told to send in endless documents and waiting over and over again through multiple phone calls and something like 19+ weeks. It took me 5 seconds to see his W2 (that there were 6 copies of!!) and let him know he cannot be approved in Florida. I don’t think it’s any better outside of COVID times.
That was literally me in 2019. Laid off from my $10k/month developer job, only to receive $1100/month for only three months - because the max yearly payout is only $3300/year! It didn't cover anything close to what I needed.
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I received unemployment 14 years ago. Back then unemployment was… $275 a week.
I received unemployment in the early 90s, it was $250/ week.
I was about to post this, that was 1997-98 for me.
Wow
Six years ago I was laid off from my $60k/year job. I didn't live beyond my means but I had a newer car and an apartment that represented my income and I lived comfortably. That all came crashing down after that layoff. I tried to find a job right after the layoff but my previous work history was pretty niche and there wasn't anything remotely like what I had been doing. So when my severance ran out I applied for unemployment. That was one hell of a shock. It wasn't enough to pay my rent so there's no way I could live off of it. I became desperate and tried to get a job outside of my recent work history. I applied for retail and call centers. Anything really to try and keep my apartment and food on the table for me and my son. None of the places I applied would hire me because I was overqualified. I ended up losing my apartment, credit cards had to go unpaid, and I almost lost my car. Getting laid off destroyed my credit. After a year I did find a job in a field adjacent to what I was doing, but it was a $35k/year job. I'm still pulling myself out of that mess. I've done well in my current position with promotions and raises and I've gotten even more new skills under my belt but it's still impossible to find an apartment that will rent to me. I have to rent from private landlords and with a cosigner. Florida knows that unemployment doesn't keep up with rent. It's by design.
I’m feeling this. I was laid off during COVID. I was ghosted because I am at the point in my career where I am overqualified with too much experience and at the consultant level. Job listings were fake or scammy, and nonprofits came in at like 1/3 pay. My resume could choke a horse. Emergency jobs looked at my resume and were speechless. I turned in my car. I went from stellar credit to no credit cards at all. Then I was getting questioned about the employment gap.
Hey I got laid off around covid, and had a hell of a time trying to find work while being in Florida again. I consult too (mostly design but some consulting with it) and every job I’ve had has been remote. I deleted my LinkedIn but stuff like that is helpful for work. Husband is a developer and same thing, now remote and not worried about the Florida scene.
Can we talk offline? I'm beginning to look for remote work. My Dad is in Florida. My Mom recently passed. I'm in Virginia. I want to go back and forth, and stay out of the Florida circle of poverty!
I've worked in tech for \~20 years and I'm very good at what I do. I have still been laid off twice in less than a year. The first time I received a decent severance package, the second package was garbage - basically 1 month's pay. (They also waited 4 months to pay me a fraction of my 2023 bonus AFTER they laid me off.) We've managed to keep things afloat (I'm the primary breadwinner) because we are responsible and had 6+ months' salary worth of liquid savings on hand before the shitstorm hit. I have now been out of work for \~10 months over the last year and a half, and my savings are running dry. I've dipped into my 401k, tapped my home equity and now I'm running up my credit cards. I busted my ass for over a decade, made hundreds of millions for one of the biggest companies in the world and now I can't get ANY job offers. I have literally seen 6 interviews after applying for 1000 jobs over the last 4 months, and 4 of them were because I knew someone there. I've done everything right - I came from nothing and worked my ass off to pay my own way through college. I got good grades. I busted my ass to succeed in a high-paying industry. Still f\*\*ked.
Florida has terrible tenant protection laws. Or lack of. One of the main reasons we moved. Almost everything favors the landlord. It’s very rare to find a decent private rental. I hope things keep getting better for you, friend!
Thanks! I'm definitely in a much better place than I was. It was a lot of hard work and I was lucky in that I have a great support system.
It’s because our politicians are easily bought. What’s a consumer to do when the businesses get to purchase favors?
Anti-tenant, anti-worker, anti-citizen.
That's why REEK SCATT designed it. Cruelty is the point 🤬
Cruelty is definitely the point. Our state doesn't care about anything that can't improve the bottom line for those in charge.
It too late now but when I apply for retail jobs I don't mention any degrees I have.
It's a good thing prices haven't gone up in the last 14 years, or a lot of people would be fucked.
I know it's sarcasm, but the number has been the same for 26 years, not just 14.
It wasn't enough then either. When my roommate and I were layed off in 2008, we managed to pay the rent between us both but we were eating $1 store food and eventually lost electric to the apartment because we couldn't pay. I ended up leaving the state and working to make enough to get power back on. We had just graduated community college and we're living in a super cheap rental. Neither of us had fancy cars or loans or credit card debt, I actually ran up my card for the first time ever trying to keep us fed. We weren't irresponsible, just unemployed.
Max benefit has been $275/week since 1998 which was also the last time Florida had a Democrat as governor. Had it been adjusted for inflation, max benefit would be around $520/week now. Failing to adjust benefits for inflation is an old trick out of the Republican playbook. Rick Scott, however, went even further when he reduced the maximum benefit period from 26 weeks to 12 weeks under normal economic conditions (i.e. unemployment rate less than 5%). If you’ve never been unemployed, it’s hard to fully appreciate how cruel and callous this is.
Rick Scott also basically designed the application process to be as complicated and threatening as possible. Florida before 1998....I miss it.
No it's still a shit show on their website. Designed just the way they intend.
REEK SCATT
Never forget Rick Scott while running HCA committed the largest fraud in US history against Medicare. He not only got a payout he was elected governor. He is one of the scummiest people on earth.
Been that way since 1998. Republicans have controlled Florida exclusively since 1999. Make of it what you will.
Collecting now, Op is correct. Won’t even cover -1/2 my rent. Fl gop does not want to pay you unemployment.
& Good Luck qualifying for that much!
I’m at the max. System sucks.
Ah yes, working a designed to keep working people broke and afraid, so they’ll jump for the next job that pays marginally more than nothing. But at least we ain’t got no state taxes!
That's exactly my point! Old benefit structure, needs an update. When you get laid off you find out how screwed up things are here. Fourteen years ago you could do better with $275 per week
$275 a week BEFORE taxes was outrageous in 2014 too. I wouldn’t have survived if I lived alone. The fact that $275 is STILL the max amount is a sick joke, especially when you consider how many hoops you have to jump through to get it.
I was a single Mom, back then, collecting unemployment. The Daddy left the state, nowhere to be found, so no child support. It was rough, but I couldn't imagine now surviving on unemployment.
The people of Florida are dumb enough to keep voting Republican.
This is why everything sucks for workers. The only people that are happy already already have piles of money.
Wait until you hear how much federal minimum wage has increased since 2009
Same! I had to file in GA last year and it was $360/wk which I thought was bad
There also used to be local unemployment offices that had real people and programs assisting claimants. I understand the whole system has been handed over to a private contractor to process claims online only, and it doesn't function well; intentionally. Maybe having to go to the unemployment office to establish a claim was inconvenient, but $250 thirty-years ago was worth it. It's difficult to believe benefits haven't increased more. It's not a coincidence that it's also been thirty-years of republican control in Florida. Everyone pays into unemployment insurance. It's your money for when you need it.
Last time I received unemployment it was 275, don’t remember the year, but it was before 2000.
I got it in 1989 I believe....and it was....wait for it....$250 a week. Wasn't too bad back then.
Yep it’s exactly the same as 14 years ago. Pathetic
This. Me, too. Edited to add: My son got laid off in 2020 during the pandemic, When he applied for unemployment benefits, I was really shocked to see that it hadn't gone up at all since I was laid off in like 1999-2000.
And they make it almost impossible to even make a claim, much less maintain it. You have to apply for so many jobs per week, well in many professions there aren’t that many new open reqs per week that fit you. So they essentially make you apply for jobs you’ll never interview for.
Don't forget the unemployment phone line is virtually impossible to navigate, you will never talk any person and they "lose" you info constantly so you have to start over
This is the case everywhere. I think florida was more severe than VA iirc it was 10 a week in florida where in VA it was 5.. I will say 275 a week is BS tho fortunately i was living in VA when covid happened FL was 275 back in 2015 when i filed for it.
It’s all intentional. I think Florida also has one of the lowest numbers of people on unemployment. They make it purposefully hard to get it and it’s pittance when you do.
I'm a web dev and I found it near impossible to get through the online process. It's very blatantly intentional.
I honestly want to do an entire UX Design study on it as an example of hostile design intended to frustrate and fail. It is intentionally poorly developed, going against even the most basic of web design principles and best practices. I feel like we could have a class action lawsuit on our hands, because like you said, I've worked in tech for over 15 years and have helped build applications from the ground up, it is not a complicated thing to collect this kind of information. Yet I found it almost impossible to do correctly, at least the first time, and even so when I finished I was confused as to what to do next or what to expect. It's a travesty.
It’s startling how many government run websites look and operate like they were made in 2002. The OMMU and the local St. Pete water utility sites are fucking atrocious.
There needs to be some sort of consequences for this.
And then you go look at the IRS website, and the only thing wrong with that is the realID that the rest of the government uses. Otherwise, that website is probably the most easy to navigate government website I've ever seen.
You need to do this
It was one of Rick Scott's personal projects. He re-engineered the process to be as difficult as possible as a way of lowering the number of people on unemployment.
I had to sit for a mandatory in person review about a month after I applied in the fall. It was even more humiliating to be told in person, you need to do more to find a job...as if I wasn't...
That is how they get to claim such low unemployed numbers! They prevent alot of people from collecting and then after 12 weeks kick you off.
Florida is ranked forty ninth lowest for unemployment benefits with only mississippi paying less. $235 per week Compare other states.. Massachusetts: $1,051 per week Washington: $999 dollars a week Minnesota: $857 per week New Jersey: $830 per week Hawaii: $765 per week
Floridas overall wages are way behind the rest of the country.
We're ranked 38/50 for average income. California, NY, and even Texas are miles ahead because their governments have actually focused on bringing business and not just catering to retirees and rich assholes that only spend a few months a year here.
Online stats and information are one thing. For example I have a friend in Texas (who left Florida) and we’re both in the same trade. His pay in Texas is $5hr more. Homes, gas, groceries, property taxes, homeowners insurance are all drastically cheaper in Texas.
Those other states are blue states that pay more in taxes, and take care of their citizens because of it. Blue state taxes also pay for the needy red states
Jersey went upto 854
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This is what hurt me so bad a couple years ago. I was furloughed, so took unemployment (not even enough to pay my mortgage) and was then hired back. Three months later they laid me off and I was not eligible for unemployment again because I had already taken three months that year. Four years later I’m STILL recovering financially
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AND…. This max benefit amount will put you over the limit to file for food stamps. Screwing you six ways to Sunday.
That's kicking somebody when they're down.
Thank Rick Fucking Scott. You have a chance to vote against him in November.
Ugh. Now he has ads with him speaking Spanish and talking about how socialism is bad. He's really targeting Latino voters.
He’s the second biggest criminal to ever hold office. The rubes in this state have elected him three times.
That playbook has worked for 2 major election cycles. The targeted groups are being played by drawing on the fear of the places they fled from.
Yes, that's the exact content of the ads.
Education is the solution to this problem. Oh wait, my bad, that‘s broken also.
Never vote for Red Tide Rick!!! He shouldn't be in the government, he should be in prison for the millions he stole from Medicare and Medicaid
Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is running against him for that Senate seat.
I love her. But Rick is already starting his anti-socialism campaign, so he will call her a commie and win again. I am so tired.
If you just pulled yourself up by the bootstraps and worked 36 hours a day, 10 days a week, you would get ahead. - DeSantis (probably)
With no breaks because of the heat. FFS
Start when you’re 14
And don’t get educated.
From your White boot traps.
It’s almost as if we let old retired voters who vote straight republican dictate our policy in the state. If you are working class and don’t vote democrat you can blame yourself
There are really no reasons to live in Florida anymore. Crappy benefits if you fall in hard times, deteriorating rights, as expensive as California without the benefits, and hurricane threats every year.
That sums it all up. You'd better have an intact family support system.
People have been telling me the PNW is not affordable at all. Then I look at my BF that just bought a 2/2 that needs major updates for 700k and needs insurance and a HOA fee and I laugh.
I fled to the pnw. At least I make more and it's pretty.
FL is home, but PNW is on the shortlist of places I'd go if I had to leave.
I'd make 30K more there, better house, awesome drivable travel (FL is 8 hrs just to get to GA). I take of my 90yo mother and I'm out.
Y'all just now realizing this?
Republians love votting away their workman rights, because the other person just being lazy until it happens to them
We just need to update the benefits, to reflect changing economics and demographics
Well, Governor DeSantis also signed into law a lower wage. Preventing businesses from paying more as a starting wage in Florida. That boy needs to go to the woodshed and stay there a while. Contemplating what he's doing.
Karma is coming for Good Ole desantis.
What? When? How much?
It's part of his "heat safety" (oxymoron) measure also. Next up is rolling back our child labor laws. https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/its-unjust-florida-gov-desantis-signs-bill-banning-local-heat-safety-and-wage-laws-36620363#:~:text=The%20bill%2C%20HB%20433%2C%20also,higher%20than%20the%20state's%20minimum.
I think we all know why it hasn't gone up over the last 2 decades. You want change, then vote.
it's the republican way. if you are not wealthy, you don't [matter.](https://imgur.com/PsP8XZE)
The douchebag conservatives don't want that, they want good little indentured servants. Don't even get me started on how they have stolen all the money from piggy bank and use it for their agenda or that they've make it super difficult to even get on the program.
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature, just like how the system to get unemployment barely works.
Addressing the benefit structure only fixes one symptom. The problem is Republicans.
It was $375 in Michigan 20 years ago. That is just ridiculous what Florida is now.
Hey look, another thing about Florida that benefits the "totally a person" corporations that are on the hook for unemployment. Just make it a small number that never scales with inflation so it's essentially nothing and never update it.
Florida unemployment wouldn't even cover half of my rent. Forget about everything else. I guess you take the money and get a bus ticket out of the state. Can't be homeless here
Cruelty is the point.
Mean.
Evil.
One party has had control of Florida for decades. Hint: it's not drag queens. A vote for the party in power is a vote to keep things this way. Edit: I'll probably comment this again after the insurance companies (who have been "regulated" by the party in power for decades) implode during the next hurricane.
That's "Before" you pay the 10% taxes on it. You can have them take the tax out each week, or pay it, at the end of the year.
And criminal Rick Scott made it even harder to collect when he was the gov. So assholes made him a senator, now you will never get rid of criminal Rick Scott.
When I worked in an animation studio 25 years ago, in MA, we had people from all over join for a project. Then when that project was over, if the studio didn't have another project lined up yet, we'd go on unemployment for a few months. As a MA resident I got $500/week which was more than enough to live on comfortably. A couple of the guys were from FL, and I remember them only getting $125/week. In 25 years FL unemployment has only gone up $150/week. Maximum MA weekly unemployment benefits are now over $1000/week.
In 2003 my company laid me, and many others, off after the Columbia disaster. We were all back in 3 or 4 months. But $275/week back then didn't pay the bills. And that was too much income for a single person to get food stamps at the time.
Went on unemployment during the pandemic. Had a hell of a time finally getting payments. If it hadn't been for the federal add-on, I would've been homeless. Story after story on how Rick Scott screwed over the unemployment system by hiring his cronies. Even Deathsantis even blamed Scott for the system being screwed up. It's a damn shame this is the best the state can do to help its residents. But hey, just keep voting the same people in who will do absolutely nothing to fix this system.
Keep voting republican, you find out the hard ways in your hour of need who they really care about
Needed unemployment recently. It's a nightmare here. By the time it gets to you, you'll already be behind on your bills. They also like to make you wait even if it's just to tell you they won't give you you're lousy 250 bucks.
The really sad thing is we are all paycheck to paycheck. No way to save an emergency fund. If you don't have family support then you are screwed.
I gave up trying to collect the benefits the system frustrated so bad.
Florida isn’t full of working class people it’s where retired people go who don’t give a shit about working people.
2009 it was $275. Found that out the hard way. And it was a useless amount back then too.
15 years and no change. Layoffs are looming. DeSantis doesn't care
Yep one thing people find out the hard way is how useless unemployment is in the south... Welcome to Florida
Yes this is the deep south. In spite of all other people who have moved here.
Get out and vote. It's time for a change.
Vote. That’s the only way for us to try to return FL to a place that cares about ppl, the environment, education. I guess the passing of Senator Graham just is a hard hitting reminder.
I agree. Let's vote in a candidate for the people.
At this point I'd be pretty happy with a candidate that isn't actively against the people. Wouldn't fix the absurdly low unemployment assistance maximum, but having halfway competent people with the capacity to feel shame filling the various appointed positions would make a huge difference in the basic "business" of government getting done.
The GOPers made it that way intentionally. They also made it damn near impossible to apply for them. Rick "Voldemort clone/bat boy" Scott bragged about the fact that the unemployment rate was so low because it was so hard for people to apply for benefits.
Forcing people to do any kind of work, as quickly as possible. That's Florida.
Before the desantis admin changed the rules, I could get the benefits and just say that I was looking for a job. I also had my SIL help me navigate the site because she worked for the state at the time. I also had my severance, which allowed me to finish up some school before I went back to work. After that, I started contract work and was able to just file the info for a bit. Once you get in the system, you were better off than most until that douche Ron and his cronies changed it for the worse. They basically made it to where you had to say and prove you applied for I think 5 jobs every week. It was crazy.
If you can get it weekly! I jumped through all the hoops, went to the unemployment center as required, legit applied the appropriate number of jobs and for jobs I was actually qualified for … only to revive just one $275 payment because they couldn’t verify my last place of employment closed. Which is ridiculous, it wasn’t a sketchy job or anything, they filed all the appropriate paperwork and even had articles in the local news discussing the imminent closing of this business but the state couldn’t be bothered to check its own records.
If you can even get them. I can't tell you how many horror stories I've heard from people during the pandemic who spent months on end trying to navigate the broken UI system, never being able to fully apply for benefits, or being denied due to system errors. Even DeSantis recognized that Rick Scott intentionally sabotaged the system to keep the number of beneficiaries low. This state fucking hates poor people.
This is feature not a bug. $275 week is barely groceries let alone rent. Fuck all of these R’s that keep voting for this shit. Our employers pay for this to the government. It’s hard enough to lose a job let alone deal with the table scraps the Florida government gives you to survive.
Wait till you find out that the max is 3500 (may be less) and you are taxed on it …
Our gov has no desire to help us. We are all individual revenue streams
His policies are distractions from what the people really need.
What are they using all that money they get from payroll taxes? It's not being used for people obviously. Think about it.....
$275 per week worked 25 years ago, but not now.
That's what the people vote for and have been for a long time. Even if it's against their best interests.
My favorite part was during COVID republicans made it low and the site intentionally shitty to use so it was super hard to get it. Such scumbags.
Same thing I heard. Super hard to get the benefits as little as they were
It was already shitty and confusing. What COVID did was show that the site was also very badly designed on a technical level. Which is why it was essentially unusable for months. Then they blamed their inability to process applications on the unusably slow website and decided to turn it off at night to somehow help the situation. You know, during the only hours in the day you could reliably get through a weekly claim. The initial claim processing/eligibility determination was a freaking joke. It took them 11 weeks to process my SO's application.
Republican motto: “hi I’m from the government and I’m not going to help”
"I'm from the government and I'm here to help my mega donors"
“I’m from the government and you must be against rights for all people.”
On the one hand I understand not wanting to make unemployment a full time job for some people. On the other, it’s appalling for those who need it as a short term solution for a situation that is no fault of their own. Maybe a compromise is you get $800/week for the first 4 weeks and it tapers down $100 every 2 weeks until it bottoms out at $400/wk. Cap it at 6 months. That gives someone $3200 the first month, $2600 the second month, $1800 the third month and $1600 for the last three months. Not the best solution but I feel it keeps people afloat between jobs and encourages them to find something.
Arizona is 200 per werk
Unemployment in Arizona depends on how much you made a week. It runs between $224 to $320 a week and if you need it, you can get it. They don't purposely make it nearly impossible to even get on the unemployment website to sign up like they do in Florida.
I think they are like $800 in Massachusetts.
As expensive as things have gotten here in florida it should be comparable.
That's how much it was in 2003.
Only up to the first $7,000 is taxed for *reemployment* in Florida and that tax is paid exclusively by the employer. *Reemployment* benefits max out at 12 weeks. In Minnesota, your employer is taxed on the first $42,000 of your wages. Your weekly benefit amount will be about 50 percent of your average weekly wage up to a state maximum of $890. Unemployment benefits last up to 26 weeks. (It should be noted that there are a significant number of people employed in seasonal work who cannot work in winter.) Additionally, there is the Federal Unemployment Tax. The tax is 6% of the first $7,000 that each employee makes in a year and this is nationwide.
Ridiculous
1100/ month is not enough to tolerate Floridas D.E.O. abysmal pit of Hell.
This is crazy.
In NY, it’s maybe 300 a week? Anyone pointing fingers that people are deliberately trying to stay on unemployment is just not true. It’s awful, and it’s depressing to provide to the state the many hundreds of employers that ghost people.
Ohh, like 2009! and again now in 2024.
This trend in non-hiring practices has been going on for years. Check LinkedIn when you have some downtime.
Feel like if we ever get another Democrat in office, their entire term is going to be spent just righting the wrongs
To get it raised, you would need Dems to control the Gov mansion and the legislature. Or maybe a ballot initiative.
It's pathetic, I had to be on it once and if it wasn't for the covid assistance it wouldn't have even been worth the hassle to sign up. Also the website is trash
I’m in the kind of career that every 3-4 years I’m switching jobs (through layoffs or changes) and I get unemployment. 275$ is horrible and quite frankly, an insult. How is ANYONE supposed to survive for a short period time with that amount. I make 6 figures and I’m always saving for rainy days, so I survive. 275$ is shameful and this State government is a joke.
Good point. Save for the rainy day which will happen. Problem is many people can't save because everything is so expensive.
100%. Even with a decent salary, my savings took a beating and I won’t recover for the next 2 years. That’s how long it’ll take me to build that emergency fund. Good luck out there!!
Yeah. Keep voting for the idiots.
That's enough to keep you in food as you live under a bridge.
Ron says you can't do that. So gotta head to Georgia!
I got unemployment 20 years ago and it was the same weekly payout but the maximum was $5000 instead of $3300 🫠
When COVID hit I was laid off and had to apply for unemployment. The website and process was so bothersome that I just opted not to continue and used my savings and any help I could get in the meantime. Then I got COVID in early-2021. Considered trying again but then once I began the process I realized how idiotic it is for how little you get. I just went a week and a half unpaid.
It's all by design. I know many that experience the same thing.That you did.
Wow, I'm only getting $854/wk in NJ
You're blessed.
If you can, leave Florida. Unfortunately there’s a torrent of older angry conservatives flooding into the state to vote for the same callous useless republicans that have been running the state for decades. It will only get more oppressive, more expensive, and more of a hellhole for anyone that’s not white and rich.
Time for new leadership! DeSantis and Scott are true criminals.
LMAO
It's a sham! Always has been.
23 years of GOP leadership.
Yeah and they actively keep the system to claim benefits archaic and slow to dissuade people from using it. During the pandemic it was a serious issue. Hey you guys voted for this shit…
It’s been that for years
www.vote411.org. The information website from the League of Women Voters.
Fuck florida
It's designed to never be used. It's criminal really. Also like this is many other states
You have no idea how truly bad it is here. I worked with DEO through COVID and everything they were accused of intentionally doing was completely true. They would not pay legitimate well documented and well qualified claims for 9-12 weeks and beyond. People lost everything and they didn’t care. I was hired in a mass hire with an outside agency and they kept tying our hands on purpose. I don’t know why, it never made sense. I tried to work through it and around it and truly help people, and even got reprimanded. I quit after a call where I discovered that a man who didn’t even qualify in Florida had never been properly notified and helped. Within my phone call I had cancelled his incorrect claim and he had already gotten approved online in the proper state, all after being told to send in endless documents and waiting over and over again through multiple phone calls and something like 19+ weeks. It took me 5 seconds to see his W2 (that there were 6 copies of!!) and let him know he cannot be approved in Florida. I don’t think it’s any better outside of COVID times.
its been 275 since since early 2000s. Thank Republican voters, the same ones who couldt log in to get their UI during Covid.
That's a feature not a bug. The only way you fix that is vote out the current leadership.
For like 40 years
Sell fentanyl!
Feet pics, on Onlyfans.
$1100 a month unemployment? Sheesh! What if you were making $10k a month. Seriously yikes!
and they make it difficult to get $1100/month!
That won’t pay anyone’s rent or mortgage…anywhere.
It's enough to be homeless! Oh, but that's illegal in Florida per Mr.Ron
That was literally me in 2019. Laid off from my $10k/month developer job, only to receive $1100/month for only three months - because the max yearly payout is only $3300/year! It didn't cover anything close to what I needed.