Gov. Cooper increases NC unemployment benefits after Helene

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order Wednesday increasing the maximum weekly unemployment payment available to North Carolinians in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

The executive order applies statewide and authorizes the current maximum weekly payment of $350 to be raised to $600.

The payments paid out by the state will continue to be capped at 12 weeks, but North Carolinians who lived or worked in the western counties that were impacted by the storm, and are out of work because of it, will qualify for up to 26 weeks of federal benefits that will be paid through the end of March.

In a statement, Cooper, a Democrat, said he was authorizing the raise in weekly unemployment benefits after traveling across Western North Carolina and hearing concern from small business owners about employees who were still unemployed because their businesses are still closed.

The executive order, which received unanimous agreement from the rest of the bipartisan Council of State, is tied to the ongoing state of emergency for Helene, and will stay in effect until the end of the emergency, or until the order is rescinded.

On top of raising the cap on weekly benefits to $600, the executive order also increases benefits by $250 per week, up to the $600 maximum, to ensure that any low-income or part-time workers who were receiving less than the current $350 maximum “receive necessary benefits in the wake of Helene,” according to a news release from Cooper’s office.

Cooper’s office noted that even though federal law requires the increased benefits to apply statewide, 79% of new claims filed — 19,735 — between the storm hitting North Carolina on Sept. 27 and Oct. 13 were filed by workers in impacted counties.

The governor’s office also noted that only eight other states have lower weekly maximum unemployment benefits after North Carolina, adding that the $350 cap, which was set in 2013, had not been changed since, “even as rising wages in the state continue to grow North Carolina’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund from which benefits are paid.”

The trust fund currently has more than $4.8 billion, and is the second-largest of its kind in the country, the governor’s office said.

The governor’s office said that the Division of Employment Security estimated that if 50,000 North Carolinians from the impacted counties were to receive the maximum unemployment payment for the entire 12-week duration, it would cost the trust fund a total of $150 million.

The additional 14 weeks of federal benefits available under the federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance program would cost the federal government an additional $175 million, the governor’s office said.

“Many currently unemployed workers will likely return to work before receiving the full benefit they are entitled to claim, so the actual fiscal impact of the increased benefits is expected to be lower,” Cooper’s office said in the release.

In a statement, State Treasurer Dale Folwell said he concurred with Cooper’s executive order but suggested that officials should work to figure out where the increased benefits are most needed.

“While natural disasters are nothing new in North Carolina, they always present new opportunities to learn important lessons,” Folwell said. “I recommend that the Governor, working with local, state and federal officials and agencies, resolve to more clearly define and identify areas that are most impacted by this and future disasters. That would assure that increased benefits and employer tax relief are provided to those in the greatest need.”

“Hopefully, the U.S. Congress and the North Carolina General Assembly will take this opportunity to draft laws that will allow precision focus and immediate action to struggling disaster relief areas instead of extending response on a statewide basis,” he said.

Cooper’s office said Wednesday that it could take people filing for unemployment between two and three weeks to see the increased payments in their weekly benefit checks.

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