Restoring the state’s unemployment trust fund is the top priority of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, the organization’s political director said at a luncheon today.
“It’s a huge problem that’s been sitting there for several years and hasn’t been addressed,” Nathan Babcock told local chamber members.
The state owes the federal government nearly $3 billion in unemployment insurance debt and the state chamber seeks comprehensive reform that restores solvency, integrity and affordability to the trust fund. “It’s the most broken system in the country,” Babcock said. “It is the most pressing issue here for business. Right now it’s easy to defraud the system.”
Babcock said 150 inmates drew unemployment. “It’s almost impossible to deny claims.”
Tommy McKnight, manager of the Roanoke Rapids Employment Security Commission office, said while he agreed with the comments, part of the fraud problem is coming from people who get jobs but don’t report them.
Part of that reform includes the need for better job training and workforce development to have better job matches.
Ervin V. Griffin Sr., president of Halifax Community College, said, “Sometimes businesses need five to six people for specialized positions,” making the college’s costs go up.
Babcock said the state chamber hopes to include funding for that when it deals with lawmakers.
Another problem within the state’s unemployment insurance dilemma is that people drawing unemployment sometimes turn down part-time jobs. “Unemployment was not intended to be a social welfare program,” Babcock said, but a program to get people back to work.
Meanwhile, Babcock said, several initiatives might be handled through tax reform, including reducing the state’s gas tax, which is the highest in the Southeast. The problem, he said, is North Carolina has the highest amount of state roads in the country.
Other goals of the state chamber this year include:
• protecting the state’s growth and water needs
• Tort reform
• Strengthening the state’s energy production strategy that would allow fracking
• Promote business’s voices in the healthcare exchange set-up
• Restructure the governance of the state Department of Public Instruction
Meanwhile, local chamber members, like Halifax County Commissioner Vernon Bryant, were concerned about broadband access in rural areas. “It’s a big deal,” he said. “We’ve got some challenges as reflected to broadband.”
Said Halifax County Economic Development Director Kathy Scott, “I think it’s directly related to education.”
Roanoke Valley chamber President and CEO Allen Purser asked about the state’s ban on Internet sweepstakes businesses. “We have a very nice theater,” he said of the Royal Palace Theatre. “It started getting on track with the Internet gaming. A lot of cities were getting revenues.”
Babcock said that could possibly be something addressed in tax reform.
