LETTER: Unemployment insurance, employers and employees
September 6, 2020 - 9:00 pm
Darlene Nix is correct that employers make the payments into the unemployment insurance system (Aug. 29 letter to the editor). However, it is the employees who shoulder the burden of the tax, not the employers.
An employer takes into account the entire cost of an employee when offering a job. That cost includes salary, benefits and other costs. If there were no federal or state unemployment taxes, those monies would go to the employee as salary. However, when payroll checks are cut, those funds are sent to the government with the employee having to settle for what’s left over.
Most employees never file for unemployment benefits and thus pay these taxes as they pay income taxes.