New Hampshire unemployment to raise

[Lloyd Danforth]

NH raising employer contributions to trust fund

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire employers will be paying more over the next three years into a fund that pays unemployment benefits.

The increased contributions are in a new law that took effect Friday. The state sought the increases to restore the fund's solvency because contributions from employers have not kept pace with jobless claims. The state must borrow from the federal government if the state fund isn't enough to pay the claims.

The law gradually increases the taxable wage base from $8,000 per worker to $14,000 over three years. It also gives the state power to add a surcharge if the trust fund balance falls below $150 million.

Job seekers also now must wait a week before they are eligible for unemployment.

[AntonLee]

I can't find it, but I thought I heard about this only applying to businesses with 75 or more employees.  I think they also were supposed to give a week notice to employees if they were going to be laid off.

The business I work with has 30 employees and regularly lays people off for December and January.  If I'm right in what I heard that would mean nothing for my job.  My boss relies on the unemployment system to even have us there.  He must be paying much less than what it would cost to pay us to stay home or pay us to keep working.  If I'm wrong, then my boss would never ever expand more than 74 employees, which is just DANDY for the economy right?  If I'm wrong then that also might mean I'm out of a job, since my boss has told us before that he could just shut down anytime he wanted and that this business was just icing for his million dollar bank account. 

That'd be fine with me btw.

[error]

I would not go past 4 employees, since a whole library full of federal regulations apply starting at 5 employees.

[djbridgeland]

Lovely something that makes it more expensive to hire someone.