Government shutdown forcing some Nebraskans to file for unemployment benefits

The U.S. government shutdown has now reached day 24, the longest in recorded history.

It’s causing some federal workers to do what was once unthinkable, file for unemployment benefits.

According to the Nebraska Department of Labor, it’s affecting some states more than others.

“The longer it goes, the more likely someone is going to have that cash flow question in their life,” said Commissioner of Labor John Albin.

In all, about 800,000 federal employees have been affected, half of which are working without pay.

The other half, at home on furlough.

The Nebraska Department of Labor has the exact number of unemployment claims filed since the shutdown began.

“We’ve had 177 claims since the shutdown that are federal related,” said Albin.

According to the federal government, the shutdown will cost at least $50 million a day in lost wages and productivity.

In Nebraska, the max amount of benefits a person can receive is capped at $426 a week.

The department of labor says the amount of claims since the shutdown haven’t caused too much of an issue.

“177 claims, even if those were all attributed to the shutdown, it wouldn’t cause any remarkable change to our workload or work flow,” said Albin.

A reason why more federal employees may have decided to hold off on applying for unemployment: When the government is funded by congress, typically back pay is given to federal workers.

“During all the previous shutdowns, congress has eventually reimbursed the furloughed workers for all the wages that they missed. If that happens they would have to repay any unemployment benefits that they received during the shutdown period,” said Albin.

Even if the shutdown continues, the department of labor and many other agencies will be funded until September 30th.

At the current moment in time, Labor Commissioner John Albin says it will be business as usual.

“We’re really not anticipating any huge issues with dealing with it, even if it extends out and more people do start to file. The longer it goes the more likely someone is going to have that cash flow question in their life,” said Albin.

If you’re a furloughed federal worker interested in seeing how much you’d qualify for, you can head to neworks.nebraska.gov/vosnet/Default.aspx or dol.nebraska.gov.