News on Unemployment Claims!

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3. Cooper has been fighting Republicans ever since his election.

North Carolina has among the nation’s lowest unemployment benefits. Only about 10% of people who apply for benefits actually qualify, and of those who did qualify in 2019, the average person received $264 a week for eight or nine weeks.

The maximum benefit is $350 for 12 weeks, although duration is based on a sliding scale up to a maximum of 20 weeks if NC unemployment is over 9%, with no additional federal weeks of benefits available. (Standard Federal extension requires a minimum of 26 weeks of state eligibility.)

The unemployment fund currently has a $4 billion surplus, due to these benefit cuts that Republicans passed in 2013.

Gov. Cooper has done all he can to try to help by authorizing the present federal emergency UI assistance, as you noted, but going any further would require legislative support, and both the state House and Senate are in Republican control.