Help for Unemployed South Dakotans 65+

See Also: Keep Social Security Strong 

HB 1197 passed in 2006 eliminating the Social Security Unemployment Offset which ended the discriminatory practice of providing reduced unemployment benefits to laid-off workers age 65 and older who also receive Social Security. However, the measure didn’t take effect until the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund reached $30 million. The fund reached $30 million at the end of the third quarter just this year, and unemployed workers who also receive Social Security started seeing an increase in their unemployment benefits October 1.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Sam Wilson, associate state director for advocacy for AARP South Dakota. “AARP strongly supported this measure in 2006, and we’re pleased it’s now in place and helping older workers in South Dakota facing unemployment in a tough job market.”

Until the measure passed in 2006, South Dakota was one of just a handful of states in which older workers received unemployment benefits at a lower rate simply because they also received Social Security.

“We know older workers experience the same financial hardships that younger workers do. AARP supported eliminating the offset to ensure that both older and younger workers receive equal benefits for work on the job,” said Wilson. “Employers pay the exact same amount of taxes for a worker over the age of 65 as they do for a worker younger than 65. Older employees work side by side younger workers all throughout our workplaces and they should have the same benefits as younger workers if they are laid off the job involuntarily.”

“Older workers are becoming an increasingly important segment of our workforce. As the population ages, older workers will have to assume many traditional roles and responsibilities in the workplace that were often occupied by younger workers,” says Wilson. “As they fill these jobs and perform the same tasks as their younger counterparts, it is important to recognize their contributions and assist them in transitioning between jobs in the same we do for younger workers.”

More and more, seniors are working full-time well beyond when they had originally planned to retire. Wilson says with the average Social Security beneficiary receiving approximately $1100 a month, older workers are staying in the work force because they want to, but in many cases, because they need to in order to supplement their income.
 
“People are working well past 65, 70, or even 75 years of age just to cover basic needs. In these challenging economic conditions older workers are subject to the same job losses younger workers experience every day in the workforce,” he said.

According a recent report by the AARP Public Policy Institute, nationwide nearly 2.1 million people age 55 and older were unemployed in August. And the average duration of unemployment for job seekers aged 55 and older was about one year.