Governor Rick Perry New figures just released by the Texas Workforce Commission tell the story of an alarming 15,000 Texas workers that will be without any jobless assistance at the end of this month because they have not been able to find a job.  Those in the number represent the first wave of individuals who will run out of jobless benefits after receiving 59 weeks of assistance from unemployment.

The number underscores the tough nature of the economic down turn and just how difficult it is to get a job in the Lone Star State.  The numbers also only represent a portion of the more than 82, 000 individuals in the state who are on their last allotment of unemployment checks.  

According to TWC, there is more assistance on the way, but paperwork, computer malfunction and verification is making it difficult and creating delays for many who otherwise might continue receiving some benefit.  Those individuals would typically be entitled to a 13-week extension of benefits, but due to the shortage in the state’s funding, those benefits will have to wait and will be paid retroactively.

Another issue, is that our state unemployment fund is under-funded and the state will have to borrow hundreds of million of dollars ($643 million) from the federal government to meet the minimum projected demand increase over the next three to six months.  These borrowed funds are drawn down in the form of interest-free loans to the states from the Department of Labor.

This might be a good time to mention Gov. Perry’s decision to reject $555 million dollars in stimulus funding from the federal government. He decided against the additional dollars because he did not think Texas should change the requirements our unemployment system and allow those who worked part-time to file for benefits or extend current benefits plans to full-time workers.

Gov. Perry contends that the economy will turnaround and that by protecting the needs of small business owners, who would get hurt by the plan, he is creating a stronger Texas economy and saving jobs. Well, he can tell it to the people standing in line at the nearest WorkSource Center.  The numbers of individuals visiting the centers are at an all time high and continuing to grow. 

Those increasing numbers are not limited to inner-city urban areas either.  WorkSource Centers across the county are feeling the “new normal” of activity that now includes the “urban-sprawl” communities of the Woodlands, Kingwood, Clear Lake, Katy and many just like them.

As one unemployed person put it, “The governor of our great state who has lived off the public dole most of his working life, cannot believe that those who lost their jobs through no fault of their own want to collect benefits from a program they paid into when they were employed.” With a failing state unemployment trust fund in need of in front of us and more than 353,000 Texans receive unemployment benefits, more than triple the number of Texans receiving UI benefits than just one year ago,  it’s time to put politics aside and work a real plan to address an issue that could cripple the state.

Ironically, Perry is now asking the federal government for a $170 million loan to take care of the expenses stimulus money would have paid for. At the time he said he was not accepting the money because the state would have been obligated to expand its unemployment coverage, creating too much of a long term tax burden.