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Florida went through more than a billion dollars in the last year paying unemployment benefits to a growing number of people. The fund still has cash, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, employers will likely have to dig deeper to keep the fund solvent.

Hear it Here: State Burns Through Unemployment Cash

Florida’s Unemployment Fund is burning through cash. It started last year with 2 point 2 billion. The Agency for Workforce Innovation says it has less than half that much left.

“There’s more than a Billion dollars in the trust fund right now.” “It’s Absolutely [enough], we’re in no danger of running out of money or insolvency.”

An automatic trigger to raise the rates paid by employers should keep the fund from going broke. But without that trigger, the fund would be out of cash by the end of the year. It’s still going to be close.

There are two factors at work. There are more people collecting unemployment and they’re collecting it longer.

Benefits have been extended from 26 to a maximum 59 weeks. Economists predicted Florida’s unemployment rate wouldn’t hit 8.1 percent until August. It hit the mark in December.

Willie Bradshaw is barely making ends meet, even with the checks.

“No that’s not enough to get by,” Bradshaw said. “I struggle day-to-day to make it.”

How much more employers will have to pay won’t be calculated until June. How many layoffs they’ve had, the salaries the pay, and the balance in the fund will all be part of the calculation.

The hike for employers is almost certain. The fund balance missed the trigger point for a rate hike this past June by just over half a million dollars.