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TOPEKA - The Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) is taking steps to ensure unemployed Kansans continue to receive unemployment benefits as they search for work. Recent projections indicate the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund could exhaust its balance as early as November 2009. Labor Secretary Jim Garner has taken steps to borrow money from the U.S. Treasury to shore up the Trust Fund. A sharp rise in the state’s unemployment rate over the past few months has caused the Trust Fund to deplete more rapidly than originally anticipated. "Our first priority is to ensure unemployed Kansans receive the benefits that help them get through this difficult economic time as they return to work," said Garner. "For that reason, we have begun communicating with the U.S. Department of Labor so that we are prepared to seek advances from the U.S. Treasury for our Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund when necessary." As has been the case in many states, Kansas’ Trust Fund has been strained by record high monthly benefit payments since the beginning of the year. Currently, 18 states are borrowing from the federal government to cover unemployment claims and that number is expected to rise in the coming months. A provision of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act allows states to borrow funds to supplement their trust funds on an interest-free basis through the end of 2010. Despite employer tax breaks that have been in place over the past three years, the Kansas Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund started 2009 with a balance of $566 million. Since that time, the monthly total of benefit payments being made from the fund has increased dramatically, reaching $78 million in June. The current balance of the Trust Fund is $349 million, which includes $69 million in Recovery Act funds received in June when Kansas met requirements for the grant under the Unemployment Insurance Modernization provisions of the act. Absent these additional funds an even more rapid depletion of the Trust Fund would have occurred. Secretary Garner has called a meeting of the Employment Security Advisory Council for Sept. 3 so the council can begin addressing this matter. By statute, the Council is charged with providing guidance in policy matters and offering solutions to the Secretary of Labor. "The Employment Security Advisory Council will begin formulating a recommendation to the Legislature to ensure our Trust Fund balance returns to an adequate position to continue meeting the needs of our unemployed citizens and ensure that we make timely repayment of any federal funds borrowed," Garner said. "The important thing for the more than 96,000 unemployed Kansans to understand is that their benefit payments are safe and will continue." More information about the Trust Fund can be found in the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund Fact Sheet. Kansas Department of Labor News Room Kansas Department of Labor News Room Archive
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