The move saves business owners from paying $126 per employee
Early Payoff of Unemployment Loan Eases Burden on Small Business
Small business
owners should enjoy a larger profit margin in 2016, in what was one of the
major recent NFIB victories across the state this past year.
Gov. Pence
announced early payoff of Indiana’s Federal Unemployment Insurance Loan in
November, which saved small businesses $327 million in January. Small business
owners would have been forced to pay $126 per employee to pay off the
outstanding balance on the state’s loan.
NFIB State
Director Barbara Quandt Underwood applauded the announcement in November. “By
advancing the early payoff of the federal unemployment loan, Gov. Pence is
saving small business owners from paying what is essentially a tax on hiring,”
Underwood said in a statement.
The state
received $250 million from the federal government to help pay
unemployment benefits during the recession, according to the Indianapolis
Business Journal. At its highest, the loan totaled $2 billion. Gov. Pence took
money from the state’s budget surplus to make the payment.
The early pay
off will aid in the continuing economic recovery of the state—where the
unemployment rate is 4.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics—and give small business owners more opportunities to hire and expand
their business.
“This action
will allow over $120 million to be infused into our Hoosier economy via the
small business sector,” Underwood said. “Jobs will be created, and capital will be improved in our
community and demonstrate to small employers that economic revitalization is
well on its way in Indiana.”
