November 25, 2008

DECATUR - The recent 13-week extension of federal unemployment benefits is a boon to Aaron Wyrozumski as he works toward completion of his training to become a pipefitter. The 30-year-old man who moved to Decatur from California several years ago was laid off in June at Hydro-Gear in Sullivan and entered a retraining program in an effort to upgrade his skills and make himself more employable. Wyrozumski expressed his appreciation for the unemployment benefits extension during a news conference Monday with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at the Decatur Public Library. While he doesn't yet have a family, Wyrozumski said he is engaged and the benefits extension will allow him to finish his training program, which is scheduled to end in February, and then hopefully find a job. Durbin presented Wyrozumski as an example of the "hard-working Americans" Congress was seeking to help when it passed the unemployment benefits extension. He credited President George W. Bush for changing his mind about the need for the package and signing it into law. According to statistics released Friday, Illinois' unemployment rate has increased to 7.3 percent, compared to 6.5 percent for the nation as a whole, Durbin said. Illinois' classification as a high unemployment state means additional benefits for unemployed families, he said. Without the extension, about 56,000 Illinois workers and 1.1 million people nationwide would have lost benefits before year-end, Durbin said. Durbin, the assistant majority leader in the U.S. Senate, predicted that the election of Illinois' other U.S. senator, Barack Obama, as president heralds a change in America. "It is the high point of my career to be in office when this happened," Durbin said. During the last eight years, the notion that giving tax breaks to the nation's wealthiest people would trickle down to help working people was a disaster, Durbin said. The Republican administration has run up the largest national debt ever, Durbin said. "When Obama announces his economic team today, the only thing I regret is it will be eight weeks until they take office," Durbin said. "There are people struggling to get in line to find work. If they don't find jobs during that 13-week benefits extension, we should extend those benefits again." Robyn McCoy, director of Workforce Investment Solutions, said about 325 people are enrolled in the agency's various programs. She said the benefits extension will help people in those programs continue to receive training while putting food on the table and gas in their vehicles. "There has been a steady demand for services until recently," McCoy said. "Now we're seeing more and more people walking through our door." Workforce Investment Solutions provides job counseling, help with resumes and interviewing techniques, works with employers to create on-the-job training opportunities, as well as provides funding for training programs, McCoy said. There also are funds for transportation or child care that will allow a client to get the training he or she needs, she said.