It’s one of those jobs that is only in the news when there’s a crisis.
In normal times, when the economy is humming, jobs are relatively easy to come by and layoffs are at modest levels, there are only a relatively small number of Georgians who cross paths with the state’s Labor Department and its commissioner.
But when there’s a deep recession — or any unprecedented economic upheaval — suddenly, the state’s labor commissioner is at center stage, the way Mark Butler has been since the coronavirus pandemic started in 2020. With millions of Georgians filing for jobless benefits and many complaining about delays in getting payments, Butler has been the object of protests, social media diatribes and lawsuits.
Butler has often defended the agency, saying many staffers worked long hours and extra days, doing the best they could in impossible circumstances. He is not running for reelection, and three candidates are vying to replace him.
In addition to handling applications for unemployment insurance, the department collects and reports on labor market data and manages a statewide string of career centers aimed at helping job seekers.
Republican state Sen. Bruce Thompson, Democratic state. Rep. William Boddie and Libertarian Emily Anderson, a digital print operator at a publishing company, are running to replace Butler.
With the start of early voting approaching, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke to Thompson and Anderson. A spokeswoman for Boddie said he was unavailable to talk with the AJC.
In a previous interview, Boddie said he wanted to restore trust in the agency, improve its technology and expand its historical role by providing more support for working parents and gig workers, who are typically not covered by the state’s unemployment insurance fund.
Thompson, who frequently cites his military and business experience, said he differs with his rivals on how to manage the department, but not on the need for change.
“I think whether you are a Democrat or Republican that you agree that during the pandemic, the (Labor Department) failed the citizens of Georgia,” he said. “We can agree there needs to be a significant improvement.”
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Credit: cont
That improvement will be partly about processes and potentially about the 1,134-person staff, said Thompson, who said he started, ran and eventually sold a number of companies, including Coverstar Automatic Covers, which sells covers for swimming pools, The Thompson Group Insurance and Bruce Thompson State Farm insurance company.
Despite contentious races at the top of the ballot for governor and the U.S. Senate and his own robust conservatism, Thompson said he doesn’t think the office needs to be partisan. And despite his harsh criticism of the agency’s past performance, he said he believes he can work with staffers.
“We’ll do an assessment,” he said. “We plan to challenge them, but I want to be a cultivation agency, highlighting people and helping them.”
Anderson, the Libertarian candidate, said she thinks the agency is understaffed.
“I went to a career center years ago and I only went because I couldn’t get anyone on the phone,” she said. “It was just compounded by the pandemic.”
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Credit: cont
She said if elected, she would ask department staffers for ideas because they know the system best.
“Where can we cut red tape? Where can it be streamlined to get you your benefits quicker?” she said.
Many of the changes needed at the Labor Department require legislative support or federal help, such as funds for better technology and a longer period for payment of benefits, but the commissioner can lobby for assistance and promote fair treatment for those who need assistance, said Ray Khalfani, an analyst with the left-of-center Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
“The North Star for governance should start with the mission to expand duration, access and benefit levels,” he said.
Because the Legislature has shifted workforce development to the Technical College System of Georgia, the Labor Department has seen its budget cut from $114.4 million during the past fiscal year to $51.6 million, officials said. Accounting for much of that cut was the narrowing of the agency’s responsibilities, making its main mission the vetting of applications for jobless benefits and making sure that valid claims get paid.
In the years after the 2008-09 recession, that task wasn’t so demanding. But then came the pandemic.
Much of the economy was at least temporarily shut down, and hundreds of thousands of Georgians were tossed out of work. The number of claims in an average week went from less than 5,700 to more than 215,000 for the next three months. It stayed in six figures until July 2020. While the federal government passed a series of emergency measures, it was left to the states to execute the new programs.
The Georgia Labor Department, with about half the employees it had during the previous recession, was overwhelmed.
Legislators, journalists and social media feeds were flooded with complaints from frustrated and scared workers waiting for benefit payments even as officials struggled to screen out thousands of fraudulent claims.
Another wave of layoffs may be on the horizon. While the weekly claims for jobless benefits are nearly as low as pre-pandemic, the economic outlook has grown murky with the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in an effort to stifle inflation by slowing the economy.
The candidates are slated to appear in an Atlanta Press Club debate on Oct. 18.
Credit: cus
Credit: cus
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