Unemployed workers in North Carolina can receive larger weekly benefits under an executive order signed by Gov. Roy Cooper on Wednesday after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of western North Carolina.
The weekly unemployment benefits will increase from a maximum of $350 per week to $600 per week, Cooper said in a statement. The state's unemployment benefits are capped at 12 weeks, but workers who lived or worked in the impacted counties can qualify for up to 26 weeks of federal benefits.
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The change applies statewide due to federal law, but the majority of the benefits will go to workers in counties affected by Helene.
“As I’ve traveled for days around western North Carolina, I’ve heard concern from many small business owners about their employees who are unemployed because their businesses are temporarily closed," Cooper said in a statement. “This Executive Order will increase unemployment benefits and help ease the financial burden for impacted North Carolinians as they work to recover from the storm.”
North Carolina has one of the lowest unemployment payouts in the nation. Eight states have a lower weekly maximum payout, the governor's office said in a statement. The $350 cap was set in 2013. Cooper asked the GOP-controlled legislature to raise unemployment payouts due to Helene. While many of his requests were included in the $273-million recovery package passed by the legislature, the unemployment benefits part was not. Cooper signed the bill into law.
The North Carolina Council of State, which includes statewide elected officials from both parties, unanimously concurred with the executive order. State Treasurer Dale Folwell said he agreed with Cooper's executive order, but said the law should be changed so that the increased benefits can be more targeted in the future.
""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," Folwell said in a statement.
"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."
If 50,000 workers from the impact counties received the full additional state benefit for 12 weeks, the cost to the state's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund would be an estimated $150 million. But many workers could return to work before receiving the full benefits, the governor's office said in a statement.