TALLAHASSEE – Spurred by the spike in unemployment caused by the coronavirus pandemic, unemployment taxes paid by businesses will increase next year, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

The annual rate adjustment is typically announced by the Department of Revenue, but the Chamber, one of the state’s largest business lobbies, sent a release to the media about the change Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Department of Revenue did not immediately return a call or email.

Starting in January, businesses paying the minimum rate will owe $20.30 per employee, a $13.30 increase on the current rate. The maximum rate, usually paid by large businesses with more frequent history of layoffs, remains at 5.4% of the first $7,000 in wages, or $378 per employee.

The annual rate change is based on a complicated formula involving the amount of the state’s unemployment trust fund balance and the annual amount of payroll in the state. Each employer has their own rate based on their history of layoffs – if a business lays off someone who collects unemployment, the rate goes up, but those with a three-year history of no layoffs have a lower rate. That means most Florida businesses don’t pay the maximum rate and will be affected by the rate change.

“The taxes are going to increase for all employers other than those that are at the maximum,” said Carolyn Johnson, director of policy for business, economic development and innovation policy at the Chamber.

Johnson said it was too soon to tell how business would be affected by the change, or if it would hinder rehiring as the state recovers from the pandemic.

Amid the depths of the Great Recession, unemployment taxes were set to increase from $8.40 per employee to $130 per employee in 2009. The Chamber and other business lobbies urged lawmakers to stretch out the payments, lowering the increase and extending the amount of time to replenish the trust fund.

Florida needed a $2.3 billion loan from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits during the Great Recession, but has since built up a $4 billion cushion in its unemployment trust fund at the start of the pandemic. That has dwindled down to $1.3 billion as of Sept. 30, even as 20 other states have required federal loans to help their systems cope with the pandemic-induced jobless claims.

But the build up in the fund was able to accrue because Florida pays out a maximum of only $275 per week in benefits, the fifth-lowest among states, and getting benefits is difficult.

Federal CARES Act money helped add $600 to those payments through the end of July, and other federal money has helped jobless Floridians as well, but that money will run out at the end of the year.

It also took hundreds of thousands of Floridians weeks and months to even get benefits when the pandemic began because CONNECT, the state’s payment system, was so overwhelmed with claims in March and April.

grohrer@orlandosentinel.com

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