Unemployment benefits are evaporating for some 2,650 people in the Fairfield County area, according to a new report, after the state”™s unemployment rate fell below a threshold qualifying residents for extended federal benefits.
Given two weeks by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to come up with a plan to help those individuals, Connecticut”™s commissioners of labor and social services are relying on the United Way”™s 211 service (www.211ct.org) to steer people to existing programs at state agencies and workforce investment boards in Bridgeport, Danbury and elsewhere.
Statewide, more than 3,300 people saw their benefits cut off on April 21, and more than 9,600 followed suit on May 12.
In the report, the commissioners raise the possibility of expanding the Platform 2 Employment (P2E) program pioneered by the Bridgeport-based WorkPlace Inc. for people who have exhausted their employment benefits, which received national exposure earlier this year on “60 Minutes.”
Under the P2E program, employers get subsidies to hire people for eight-week “try-before-you-buy” working stints, in hopes the workers will impress enough to win permanent jobs.
“P2E could be leveraged with the (Subsidized Training and Employment Program) allowing the expansion to occur in a more cost efficient manner and largely within existing resources,” the commissioners stated in their report. “The identification of resources to pay ”¦ is still underway but if feasible would position services for this group of exhaustees as well as those affected beyond January 2013.”
