Unemployment Insurance
Louisiana’s unemployment insurance system is supposed to protect workers who lose their job through no fault of their own by providing support to help make ends meet while they look for work or retrain for a new occupation. But Louisiana’s unemployment benefits are notoriously skimpy, with average weekly benefits that are currently the lowest among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. … Read more...
The Covid-19 pandemic caused tremendous economic and personal hardship in Louisiana in 2020. Devastating job and wage losses due to the pandemic would have driven tens of thousands of our neighbors into poverty. Instead, robust government aid and a strong safety net actually lowered poverty during the pandemic, according to the latest data from the U.S.… Read more...
The Covid-19 pandemic caused tremendous hardship in 2020. But timely federal aid and safety net programs dampened the blow and effectively kept millions of Americans out of poverty, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Louisiana, though, has suffered through a string of natural disasters in addition to the pandemic.… Read more...
Federal pandemic relief dollars lessened the pressure on the state budget and allowed the Legislature to make important new investments in education, including a much-needed boost to the Go Grants program that will make college more affordable for low-income students and the creation of the M.J.… Read more...