I am David E. Balducchi, retired from the U.S. Department of Labor, and an Advisory Board member of Social Action Linking Together (SALT). I strongly support Senator Ebbin’s bill, SB 1057, to increase the income disregard of wages paid during a week claimed in calculating unemployment benefits. All states disregard some earnings as an incentive to take part-time or short-term work. The purpose of the earnings disregard is to allow unemployed workers to pick up part-time work that supplements their cash shortfall due to lack of full-time work, without severely reducing their unemployment benefits. National policy experts have recommended that the earning limit placed on claimants should be set to give claimants a real incentive to work, which can lead to full-time work. In Virginia, the income disregard of $50 was last revised in 2005. At the time, the minimum hourly wage in Virginia was $5.15. Currently, the minimum hourly wage is Virginia is $12.41. The income disregard has not kept pace with hourly wage growth, and it should be doubled to stimulate active work searches. Thank you.
I am David E. Balducchi, retired from the U.S. Department of Labor, and an Advisory Board member of Social Action Linking Together (SALT). I strongly support Senator Ebbin’s bill, SB 1057, to increase the income disregard of wages paid during a week claimed in calculating unemployment benefits. All states disregard some earnings as an incentive to take part-time or short-term work. The purpose of the earnings disregard is to allow unemployed workers to pick up part-time work that supplements their cash shortfall due to lack of full-time work, without severely reducing their unemployment benefits. National policy experts have recommended that the earning limit placed on claimants should be set to give claimants a real incentive to work, which can lead to full-time work. In Virginia, the income disregard of $50 was last revised in 2005. At the time, the minimum hourly wage in Virginia was $5.15. Currently, the minimum hourly wage is Virginia is $12.41. The income disregard has not kept pace with hourly wage growth, and it should be doubled to stimulate active work searches. Thank you.