Pre-filed bill would require unemployed to seek more jobs

Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville has pre-filed a bill that will require citizens receiving unemployment to spend more time each week looking for work.

Under current law, individuals receiving unemployment are required to contact three employers each week. HB29 would raise that requirement to five employer contacts each week.

The current law is already an expansion of a longstanding law that required unemployed individuals to contact just one employer each week.

Lawmakers upped that number to three in the 2022 legislative session after adopting a bill brought by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur.

The bill would also require recipients to respond to job offers within 72 hours and disqualify them from receiving unemployment if they miss a job interview.

Despite a temporary unemployment spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, Alabama has seen record-low numbers of unemployment for years, with a current rate of just 2.8 percent.

Officials once watched that rate closely, but have now mostly abandoned that statistic as an employment marker and focused on labor force participation.

Alabama has one of the lowest labor force participation rates in the country at 57.5 percent.

A person receiving unemployment benefits though is considered to be participating in the labor force.

Alabama provides up to 14 weeks of unemployment assistance at a maximum of $255 per week, one of the lowest payments in the nation.