South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Fast Track Training in Charlotte

With part of its federal recovery money, North Carolina has endeavored to create short-term training and career transition opportunities for dislocated workers. A recent story in The Charlotte Observer highlighted one such project taking place at Central Piedmont Community College.

The fast track program, created last fall with $500,000 in federal stimulus dollars, will offer training to 450 students in more than 10 vocations, including pharmacy technician, commercial carpentry and electronic engine repair. Much of that money comes through North Carolina’s “12 in 6″ worker-training initiative, launched by Gov. Bev Perdue last spring to help N.C. community colleges offer certification classes to displaced workers and other job seekers.
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In the Charlotte region, where the unemployment rate is now 12.1 percent, the fast track program is part of CPCC’s emphasis on training workers for emerging industries – or those hiring at the moment. Stimulus money also is paying for a $73,000 CPCC work-study program, in which 16 students can earn credit toward certification by working part-time in their field of study.

Extended Unemployment Insurance Benefits

A new report from the Congressional Research Service summarizes the issues related to the various extensions of unemployment insurance benefits authorized by Congress. With the most recent extension, workers receiving insurance benefits can qualify potentially for four tiers of Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC).

A key problem is that while Congress has extended benefits, it has not yet reauthorized the larger EUC program, which is set to expire at the end of the year. Explains the report:

There has been some confusion on what the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, P.L. 111 92, accomplished. P.L. 111-92 expanded benefits available in the EUC08 program. That is, it substantially increased the number of weeks of EUC08 benefits available to individuals; it did not extend the authorization of the program, which currently expires on December 26, 2009. Tier I benefits continue to be up to 20 weeks in duration and tier II benefits are now 14 weeks in duration (compared with 13 previously) and no longer are dependent on a state’s unemployment rate. The new tier III benefit provides up to 13 weeks of EUC08 benefits to those workers in states with an average unemployment rate of 6% or higher. The new tier IV benefit may provide up to an additional 6 weeks of benefits if the state unemployment rate is at least 8.5%; however, at this time tier IV benefits are largely symbolic as few workers will qualify for tier IV before the EUC08 program authorization expires.

Weekend Wonk Out

A round-up of policy reports from the week ending on 11/20:

• The Center for American Progress looks at how to reduce youth unemployment.
• Demos charts the rise and fall of the Glass-Steagall Act.
• The Brookings Institutions looks at the economic prospects of America’s metros.
• The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analyzes the effects of raising Medicare taxes for high earners.
• The Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy asks just who pays taxes.

Housing Market Update

Highlights from the latest issue of the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s Housing Market Monitor:

There appeared to be a sharp falloff in the housing market in October, as the November 30th expiration date for the first-time homebuyers tax credit approached. As expected, this credit pulled home purchases forward, leading to a substantial increase in sales in the late summer and early fall.
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The underlying glut in housing means that it is only a matter of time before house prices begin to fall again. Delinquencies hit another record in the third quarter of 2009. The 6.25 percent 60-day delinquency rate was 58 percent above the level for the third quarter of 2008. Even with a higher percentage of delinquent homeowners now benefiting from mortgage modifications, the foreclosure rate is still running at near record levels. With unemployment virtually certain to remain high well into next year, there is little prospect for any sizable drop in foreclosures.
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As a result, foreclosures will be putting homes on the market at an annual rate of close to a 2 million. This is guaranteed to depress prices in a market with total demand of close to 5 million. In short, house prices will almost certainly resume their decline. The only questions are how soon and how fast.

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