Workers in Georgia would be allowed to earn several hundred dollars more a week while keeping their full unemployment benefits under a bill that passed the General Assembly on Wednesday.
The bill is a reversal for Georgia, which slashed the maximum unemployment benefit to 20 weeks in 2012, as it sought to repay money it borrowed from the federal government to pay jobless claims during the Great Recession.
The length of benefits would be set on a sliding scale, starting at 14 weeks when the jobless rate is 4.5% or lower and topping out at 26 weeks when the unemployment rate is above 10%.
Previously, workers who earned as little as $50 dollars a week could have their jobless benefits reduced.
The new threshold would mean someone could earn up to $665 a week — the $300 a week in wages plus Georgia’s maximum weekly jobless benefit of $365 a week.
