Skagway will offer unemployment benefits to those who stay in town this winter. It’s an effort to keep people from moving away even after two straight summers with very little tourism.
Skagway’s assembly unanimously voted to make additional unemployment benefits available to anyone living in Skagway that qualifies for either state or federal unemployment benefits. It also will cover anyone who can document underemployment due to a COVID-19 related absence.
The Skagway-based benefits will be in addition to any benefits already being received through state or federal programs, and it’ll be paid for as part of the $2 million donation made by Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings earlier this year.
Assembly member Deb Potter said that one of the lessons learned during the pandemic is that Skagway’s livelihood is based on a cruise ship economy.
“We’re really a seasonal based, or a seasonal workforce. We’ve got to find a way to get our seasonal workforce through the winter until those jobs start up again, in the spring, hopefully when we see cruise ships coming back,” Potter said.
The program will begin paying out checks in December, but the criteria for being accepted into the program will be based on November’s employment history. In order to make sure only people living in Skagway are receiving the funds, each check will have to be picked up in person at city hall.
The first draft of the resolution didn’t include provisions for work stoppages due to COVID-19 or for small business owners who don’t qualify for state unemployment benefits. Those changes were added later. Skagway tour company owner and operator Sherry Corrington said she wouldn’t have qualified without the changes.
“As a self-employed individual, I was not eligible for unemployment through the State of Alaska. That’s where the pandemic unemployment insurance came into play. That was basically the life ring for all the gig workers or self-employed individuals, and people that were working under their own social security number,” Corrington said.
But she said she did qualify for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and federal grants helped her business stay afloat this year. But she wouldn’t be eligible for assistance with her household expenses this winter. That’s where the Skagway unemployment assistance program comes in.
“It will go to my home mortgage, it’ll help me pay off my utilities, my heating expenses, fuel, the things that aren’t covered by anything. And you know, I’m racking up credit card bills and I’m shifting money around and trying to get clever, but it means I won’t run myself into the ground financially throughout the winter,” Corrington said.
The program will offer up to $150,000 in December and up to $100,000 for each month of January, February and March.
The overall monthly budget will be split equally amongst the applicants, but individual payments are capped at $2,400 per month for unemployment benefits and $120 per day for up to two weeks for COVID-19 relief benefits. Any remaining funds will be reallocated by the assembly.
Skagway’s municipality hasn’t announced when it will begin processing applications.
