Under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits in 2009 will not be taxed.

Hey TCB, Madison is the capital and contains the state government. As a rule all state capitals consistently have lower unemployment rates than the rest of the state. Not only does it contain most of the state government, it will also usually contain state based company headquarters; not only for political purposes but for logistics. It has nothing to do with education.

I would be curious to know what the local, ie Janesville/Beloit unemployement rates for high school drop outs v. high school diploma holders v. college grads v. graduate school graduates is.

Is it really a surprise that Madison a city that has much higher percentage of college graduates than Janesville finds its (Madison) unemployement rates half of Janesville and only 1/3 of Beloits?

Hey rexkramer, don't forget it was your president (old ronnie raygun) that decided to tax unemployment in the first place. so not only do you make about half what you made when you are working; it is taxed. great philosophy!

Don't worry though, your governor is hard at work trying to figure out another way to tax all you unemployed folks, as well as every remaining business in the state, but he'll get around to the jobless problem when he's done.

armyof3, there are several different measures of unemployment, labeled U-1 through U-6. The "official" number is U-3 for a variety of reasons, including reliability and comparability. The largest is U-6 which includes all persons underemployed or "marginally attached", meaning roughly that they would work if they could find a job, but have stopped looking.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t...
.
Needless to say U-6 is at a record high 15.6%.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/04/u...
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I shudder to think of what Janesville's U-6 rate is, since it runs about double the reported rate.

In talking with several of my customers in and around Rock and Dane county the prognosis is not good. Many do not expect the area to begin to rebound till the 3rd quarter of 2010. Without a drastic change in Doyle's policy and that of Janesville to attract new business the outlook is grim. Wisconsin has to compete with other States for new business which brings new jobs. It's that simple.

I'd like to see a poll taken for people not working for any reason, like retirement, disability, or being laid off. Sometimes it seems like most people in Janesville are not working for one reason, or another.

the percentage rate is calculated only for those people that are on unemployment... sad that the Janesville/Beloit area is the highest in the state... what I am curious about is what is the percentage of people throughout the state, metro area specific or otherwise, that aren't on unemployment because their benefits/extended benefits have run out due to lack of available jobs??

http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm here is the official definition of unemployment and how it is arrived at.

fact/fiction?? some any or all the comments i read. you just never know. hey

It will go up again next month too.

ozzman99

Actually, the unemployment rate IS directly tied to those that receive UI. Those that are not currently receiving benefits, or those not actually looking for work are NOT counted in the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate has nothing to do with those who are collecting unemployment insurance. The rate sis set by a survey of people who are unemployed and currently searching for work. people who are unemployed and not looking for work are not included in the count

Our world has always been that way. The only reason the power hasn't been shut off earlier is because of the weather. No one ever said life was fair, but it is what it is. It is my guess that the amount of money he owes is quite substantial.

What I wonder is what happened to all of this guy's money as I am sure he didn't just buy all of these recently. Did he not save when times were good? Do the the tenants that he is helping pay anything? Even if they don't pay full rent, anything is better than nothing. Are the tenants receiving any help from the state? Does his default to the energy company have an effect on the rest of us that are struggling to pay the bills for just our own family, let alone for 35 other families? Will our already high energy bills go higher as this energy company passes the default on to us? My guess is that even if the economy recovers anytime soon, there aren't going to be a whole lot of people wanting to move TO Janesville. Might be a smart move to cut his losses now?

jfreed.....God bless this property owner, savior, and amazing individual. Thank you for sharing this story.......Has anyone contacted our State Senators office, Congressmans office, or anything like that in this matter? Our energy provider needs a swift kick in the seat of their pants for this disgrace. I personally know the affects of this such provider. I lost my job, and have now beene one of the very few fortunate to have found another (cutting my pay by over 60%), but it is a paycheck and benefits.....Please contact someone someone in the senate or congress..Judy Robson is an amazing support for all of us in this area.

Keep in mind that this rate is based only on those collecting unemployment. once that runs out your no longer considered unemployed. Also missing are all of those who are underemployed and one trip from the hospital away from financial ruin because of no health insurance.

I am hurt and confused.... Here's the story. We all know how the bad economy has effected our friends and loved ones, but what about those we don't normally socialize with. There is a property owner in town who currently is serving in the national guard. He owns 35 apartments in Janesville. Through out the winter he has received less and less in rent from his tenants due to the lack of jobs in Janesville. While he has struggled to pay his mortgages, he has continued to help people in the community through crises intervention, to provide homes for some of those left homeless. Now he has worked with his mortgage lenders, and they are will to re-write the loans until the economy turns around. Here's the catch. Our energy provider has decided that since he is behind in his payments, due to lack of money being received, all the power and gas will be shut off to all of his buildings in Janesville. So now we have 35 more family's that will be without homes, because 'the powers that be' have decided that without power & gas, the units will be unfit for human habitation. While I have heard that the homeless intervention task force has gone to bat against 'our energy provider' for this property owner, yet as of Sat all power will be shut off. Tell me that our world hasn't come to this.

WOW!