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| News about Michigan, MI |
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Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. If you stillhave a job, that unemployment rate is just a number. You probably don’tknow how frustrating it is to work within our state’s system to findanother job. I do. On Oct. 2, I lost my contract positionas an archivist-historian at the General Motors Design Center alongwith dozens of my colleagues. Like hundreds of thousands ofothers, I turned to the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency and Michigan Works, while at the same time sending out dozens of résumés. I thought you might want to know what it’s like on the front lines of the unemployment battle, should you lose your job. Thestate’s unemployment filing system is surprisingly user-friendly: Ihave the option of filing my claim by phone or over the Internet. Ichose the Internet and filed my claim easily within a few minutes. OnceI visit an unemployment office to validate that I have also posted myrésumé on the Michigan Talent Bank Web site, I can call an automatedphone system on my appointed day, every two weeks, to certify that I ameligible to collect unemployment, and receive my direct-deposit paymentof $292 per week, after taxes. I’ve been fortunate. My payment is always in the correct amount, and there has never been a delay. Thereis another program called No Worker Left Behind, part of MichiganWorks. NWLB provides training to displaced workers, giving them theeducation they need to pursue a new career. Unemployed machinists canbecome truck drivers, ex-librarians can learn medical transcription. Ireview the qualification guidelines on the Michigan Works Web site andcall the Clinton Township office for more information. The receptionistis helpful, informed and friendly. She registers me for the next NWLBorientation. At the orientation, my instructor gives me anappointment with a caseworker. Though the orientation is mid-October,my appointment is Dec. 2, six weeks away. In the interim, I aminstructed to gather paperwork to prove eligibility and to select a fewareas of study that interest me from an online list of approved careersand programs. After the six weeks pass, I arrive a little earlyfor my appointment with my caseworker and join the fray at the ClintonTownship office. The chaos is frightening, and the din depressing.People come here because their payment has been denied or delayed, orfor a myriad of other reasons. The receptionist handles them all withgrace and patience. My caseworker, Mary, fetches me half an hourlate and guides me to her desk. It is piled high with file folders,loose papers, sticky notes. It takes her more than 10 minutes to locatemy file. She fills out a couple of paper forms, makes copies of myeligibility documents, then asks for others that I didn’t know shewould need. I promise to drop them off with the receptionist the nextday. Then Mary and I discuss my career options. She declines twoof my three choices, although they were both on the online list. Shedoesn’t have a clear explanation of why, she just tells me that someprograms on the list aren’t actually approved. She tells me to go backto the list and choose something else. Mary tells me that if I hurry, Ican probably begin my education at Macomb Community College theupcoming semester. I am motivated, and she is encouraging. “Bring methat paperwork,” Mary says, “and we’ll get it done.” The nextday, after I drop off the paperwork with Mary, I visit Macomb’s southcampus. I meet Barb, the Special Populations counselor. She iscompetent, pleasant and eager to help. Over the next few days, wechoose another NWLB-approved program from the online list —communications — and make my schedule. Barb generously pushes thetuition due date back for me, from Dec. 9 to Jan. 12, only two daysbefore classes begin, to give NWLB time to process me. A month, she isconfident, is more than enough time. I call Mary to let her knowthat I was able to get everything on my end completed. She immediatelycalls me back and asks why I haven’t provided the paperwork sherequested. I’m puzzled. I did leave the paperwork for her, days ago,but I recall the bustle of the office and the state of her desk and amdoubtful she knows she has it. She asks me to bring it to her again,and gives me a specific time to arrive at her office. I gather thepaperwork, rush to the office, and she is not there. I reluctantlyleave it with the receptionist. For the next month, I don’t hearback from Mary. I leave two, sometimes three messages every businessday, and still no phone call. My messages are courteous, but urgent. Ineed to know the status of my case. I will lose my classes and will notbe able to start unless she calls me back. I can’t pay my tuition. Ican’t buy books. I can’t arrange for child care. I can’t do anythinguntil she calls me back. But she will not call me back. In thethird week of my messages, Mary changes her outgoing voice message tosay that she will return all calls within 24 hours, and to please notleave multiple messages. I grow increasingly frustrated anddisappointed. Barb at Macomb e-mails me and pushes my tuition due dateback again, tells me to go ahead and start the classes, but I stillcan’t buy books or arrange child care. I am afraid to beginclasses, although I do, because I might lose my unemploymenteligibility. Mary had mentioned a waiver, which she will have to issue,but when I leave a message asking about the waiver, she will not callback. I visit the office and am told that Mary doesn’t see anyonewithout an appointment. To schedule an appointment, I have to call her.I ask for a supervisor’s name, and they will not provide one. Finally,the day after my classes start, I receive a phone call from MichiganWorks telling me that my file has been approved, my tuition is on itsway, and I have an account at the Macomb bookstore to cover the cost ofbooks and supplies. But there is still no word from Mary aboutthe waiver that would allow me to continue to collect unemploymentwhile in school. I leave two more messages for her and hope that she,or anyone, will phone me back before my next class, but I won’t hold mybreath. I am exactly the person for whom this program was designed, and it is, in important ways, failing me. Theunemployment system seems to work; I can collect just enough money tomeet my obligations until my eligibility runs out. And that’s the rut Iam stuck in. The most frustrating part? My future is in thehands of someone either so overwhelmed she can’t respond or who simplydoesn’t care. The countless hours I spend in dogged pursuit ofemployment or education are negated by a system ill-equipped to handlethe hundreds of thousands of people who need it. The Detroitarea has some of the highest unemployment rates in the state. InNovember, the Detroit-Warren-Livonia unemployment rate crept up to 9.5percent, up from 8.8 percent in October. And right now there are about850,000 résumés posted on the Michigan talent bank Web site, but only26,500 or so jobs available. With odds like that, is it any wonder, then, that people are leaving the state in record numbers? | ||
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