The decision to grant unemployment benefits to two former drivers for ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft is an interesting one, since it means that yet another government agency has concluded that “gig economy” workers were treated like employees and should be considered as such…at least for the purpose of getting some income while they aren’t driving. [More]
unemployment
Former Uber Driver In California Granted Unemployment Payments
By 9.10.15
While a decision by the California Employment Development Department only affects one employee and their claim for unemployment benefits, it’s yet another official declaration from a government agency that the people who drive for Uber have an employer-employee relationship with the company, which in theory should entitle them to benefits that employees receive: reimbursement of vehicle costs, having the employer’s portion of their income taxes paid, and receiving unemployment benefits when their employment with the company ends involuntarily, if appropriate. [More]
State Says Man Doesn’t Have To Repay $17K, Will Keep Billing Him For It Anyway
By 7.1.14
They say that some mistakes you make will haunt you the rest of your life (like that ZIMA logo tattoo on the small of my back). They should add that mistakes made by the state of New Jersey will also apparently cling to you like stink on a skunk. Just ask the man who has watched a $17,000 error by the Garden State bloom into a $21,000 problem that now involves South Carolina… and which will never, ever go away. [More]
New Website Seeks To Put Job-Seeking Veterans And Employers Together
By 4.23.14
In an effort to ease the transition from military service to the private sector — and help former servicemembers find jobs that match their skills — the Dept. of Veterans Affairs has launched a new service on its website that it hopes will allow employers to connect directly with veterans looking for work. [More]
State Demands Man Repay $15,000 In Benefits He Never Received, Takes His Tax Refund
By 3.3.14
If the state accidentally pays you $15,000 in unemployment benefits, you’ll probably have to pay that money back. But what about when the state demands repayment of that money, even though you never received it in the first place? [More]
Fewer Teens Are Driving Because They’re Broke
By 10.25.13
In 2012, 73% of graduating high school seniors nationwide had driver’s licenses according to the Centers for Disease Control. That’s down from 86% in 1996. What’s the reason for the drop? Better public transportation? Helicopter parenting? Stricter testing requirements? No, not that. A new study from the insurance industry-funded Highway Loss Data Institute indicates that it’s because teens don’t have jobs. [More]
How Bad Credit Keeps People Unemployable, And Why It Shouldn’t
By 5.15.13
Here’s the thing with credit histories: it’s easy to fall behind on your bills when you don’t have a job. The reduced income (or total lack of income) really works against you. While half of all companies report that they check the credit reports of at least some prospective employees, there isn’t really any solid evidence that correlates bad credit with being a bad employee. [More]
State Goofs, Demands Man Pay Back $17,000 In Unemployment Benefits
By 4.15.13
Back in 2007, when a newly unemployed New Jersey man decided to relocate to South Carolina, he checked with the state to let them know about the move and to make sure he was filing all his unemployment records properly. $17,000 and multiple assurances from state employees later, he was suddenly told he needed to repay all that money. [More]
Get My Daughter A Full-Time Job And I’ll Give You 500 Bucks
By 3.5.13
Sorry, that’s not a direct offer from Consumerist: we don’t have daughters, or $500. A 36-year-old Southern California woman who has spent the last decade and a half as her mother’s caregiver after a car crash is looking for a job now that her mother is well enough to live alone. Her mother has put up a $500 reward to anyone who is able to get her a job. [More]
Amazon Payments Locks Me Out Of Account, Won’t Answer My Calls
By 2.28.13
Ray was looking for a job, but jobs are elusive things and hard to find where he lives. So he turned to Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a service where users can perform small tasks that can’t be automated in return for small amounts of money that eventually add up. [More]
Fed: Unemployment Wouldn't Be So High If People Weren't So Darn Uncertain About Economy
By 9.17.12
When I was a tiny little lad, my coach said the only thing keeping me from being a great soccer player was confidence… and my utter inability to kick the ball in anything resembling a straight line, but also my confidence. Now some number-crunchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco say that the country’s unemployment rate would be a touch lower if we had all just been less uncertain about the economy. [More]
Nevada Continues To Reign Supreme In Latest Unemployment Numbers
By 7.30.12
Since the bottom dropped out of the housing market a few years ago, and even as most other locales have begun to claw their way out of the pits, Nevada and California have continued to churn out huge unemployment numbers. And the latest stats from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows no real reversal in that trend. [More]
U.S. Jobless Claims Drop To Match Lowest Point In Four Years
By 3.15.12
More signs of an improving labor market have arrived, as the Labor Department released new figures showing that claims for jobless benefits are matching the lowest level in four years. [More]
Unemployment Claims Are Lowest Since '08
By 2.17.12
In a sign that the black cloud that’s hovered over the economy for the past several years may be ready to give way to a little sunshine, unemployment claims dropped to 348,000 in the week that ended Feb. 11 — the lowest level since March 2008. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of claims dropped by 13,000 from the previous week. [More]
Tips For Beating The Resume-Reading Robots Of Doom
By 1.31.12
Anyone who has applied for a job at a large company — especially one that doesn’t accept actual resumes but instead requires you to fill out a series of online forms — probably knows that their CV is being scanned, and maybe thrown in the trash, by some automated system meant to weed out those who obviously don’t fit the criteria. But there’s a chance you do fit the bill; you’re just not using the write words to describe your skills and experience. [More]
American Workers Growing More Flexible About Temp Work, Changing Careers
By 1.27.12
With about a half-decade of a blah economy and weak employment, Americans are growing more amenable to taking temporary employment, changing their viewpoint from the glass-half-empty opinion of “it’s a job without permanence” to “it’s a job that may lead to something permanent one day.” [More]
Unemployment Dropped In Most States In December, But Will It Last?
By 1.24.12
For everyone who so over these economic doldrums, the latest Labor Department jobs data for December 2011 may prove to be a bit of a belated holiday gift. Let’s just hope that gift doesn’t end up being returned in a couple months. [More]
