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Firms get the news: Payroll taxes go up to cover unemployment costs

State employment agency says new tax rates begin in January

Pamplin Media Group, Nov 14, 2009, Updated Nov 14, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

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Oregon employment officials will announce Monday morning the state’s unemployment numbers for October, but state employers are getting word this week that they’ll have to pay more in payroll taxes to keep the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund in balance.

The state Employment Department began mailing notices Friday telling companies that the agency would adjust its payroll tax rate upward to an average of 2.76 percent of the first $32,100 paid to each employee.

New employers will see their payroll tax rate increase from 2.4 percent to 3.1 percent.

Right now the tax rate under Schedule 3 is between 0.9 percent and 5.4 percent of the first $31,300 paid to employees.

State officials said the change was required to keep the unemployment trust fund stable. Since the beginning of the year, the state has paid $2.2 billion in benefits from the fund. An average of about $50 million a week has been paid to 175,000 unemployed Oregonians, the Employment Department reported Friday.

Money for the fund comes from state and federal trust funds replenished by employer payroll taxes. The increased payroll taxes go into effect in January.

Depending on the need for funds, Oregon’s payroll tax rate shifts among six tax schedules. The state is moving early next year to Schedule 6, which means the payroll tax rates will range from 1.8 percent of the first $32,100 paid to each employee, to 5.4 percent.

The specific rate each employer pays under the new schedule depends on how much they have used the unemployment insurance system. Some employers with higher unemployment claims will pay at the higher rate.

Oregon is one of the few states in the nation with a solvent unemployment insurance fund. About 40 states funds are expected to run out of money by 2012, according to the state Employment Department.

Oregon’s unemployment rate in September dropped slightly to 11.5 percent from August’s 12 percent, the state reported in mid-October. At that time, 211,529 Oregonians were unemployed, about double the number from a year earlier.

Each week, unemployed Oregonians can get a minimum of $115 and a maximum of $493 in unemployment insurance. The average weekly amount is $311.76, according to the state agency.

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Reader comments

Re: Firms get the news: Payroll taxes go up to cover unemployment costs

Have you tried living on $311 a week recently? We need to put people back to work.

I went to see Paul Krugman speak in Manchester, Vermont in October. After speaking for an hour, he started taking questions from the audience. A man a few feet away from me stood up and asked him where the jobs were going to come from for his children and grandchildren.

Paul answered that he didn't know, but green jobs might be an answer. He also said that something might come along that we haven't invented yet, that will revolutionize things similar to computing and the internet. But, in the end, he just didn't know from where the jobs were going to come.

I don't think we can sit around and wait for something to be invented that doesn't exist yet and green jobs could put people to work now. Why, as far as I can see, is nothing being done to create green jobs? What about all of the crumbling infrastructure in this country? Roads, bridges, water pipes that are 100 years old and leaking? We spent billions of dollars to save the casinos on wall street. Can't we spend a few billion to put some people back to work?

I am extremely disappointed that President Obama is not addressing the unemployment problem.

As Paul Krugman said, "We need a better government than we've got."

"John Tedder"

(email verified)

Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 09:47 AM

Re: Firms get the news: Payroll taxes go up to cover unemployment costs

Krugman saying that we need a better government than we have does not make sense; we've had the same government for many decades, and it's worked amazingly well. What we need is better politicians. We need politicians who put the country above their own selfish interests and who will work with other parties to do what is right for the country. For a long time, we've had politicians who so polarize the country that the country is paralyzed. Witness the mess in DC right now, and the bogus bills they are trying to force past the country. We will never get back to the country we were, and need to be again, until we shove those incumbents outof office and vote in new elected officials - we must do this until we get it right. Krugman is not a guy to believe; he states that we need a better government than we now have, yet he pushes for bigger and bigger existing government. That's lunacy.

"Supergeezer"

(email verified)

Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 07:32 PM

Re: Firms get the news: Payroll taxes go up to cover unemployment costs

We also need New leadership focused on Jobs at the state level in Oregon. Neither Kitzhaber nor Bradbury make this their priority. Steve Shields will make Jobs, Economy and Education the top priorities for Oregon. www.steveshields2010.com