Evaluation of the self-employment assistance program

This means that there are states that are not actively participating in a self-employment assistance program; you should make sure that your state has a self-employment assistance program before you decide to apply.

Department of Labor: Training and Administration. You are probably wondering how the Self-Employment Assistance Program works. It is a fairly easy process without many complexities. The SEA Program provides weekly allowances for small business-owners and entrepreneurs until they manage to get their business off the ground.

Instead of receiving unemployment benefits, the Self-Employment Assistance Program provides weekly allowances to small business-owners.

The process of the SEA Program is similar to the unemployment benefits process. You need to file a claim every time you need the weekly allowance. The application process typically takes about three weeks to finalize. By three weeks, you will know if you are eligible for the Program and if you will receive your weekly allowance.

For potential candidates, you might receive an eligibility letter that allows you to know whether you are qualified. You should keep in mind that there are eligibility requirements that you have to meet, which are similar to the unemployment benefits eligibility.

Self-Employment Assistance Programs are very beneficial for entrepreneurs and small business-owners. The SEA Program offers qualified individuals with a weekly allowance that allows them to hit the ground running. Since starting a business is hard and getting it off the ground is harder, you should really consider a Self-Employment Assistance Program.

It might help you to move forward with your business and keep your head above water. Also, the SEA Program will require you to enroll in a training program that is relevant to the business world.

This means that you can stay updated on the ever-changing business industry and still focus on your business. With the Self-Employment Assistance Program, you will be able to concentrate on growing your business without having to look for a job.

Most entrepreneurs and small business-owners face that dilemma more often than not. They are unable to give their all to their business, especially in the starting phase. The Self-Employment Assistance Program eliminates any cause for distractions, on your part. Department of Labor in New York State. However, everything has to have benefits and drawbacks.

The drawbacks to a self-employment assistance program are that you will be solely reliant on the weekly allowances. As part of the eligibility requirements, you will not be able to actively look for work.

This means that you will have to make due with your weekly allowance and nothing more. Also, the assistance program targets only small business-owners and entrepreneurs.

Once you decide that you want to take a different route in your career, you will not be qualified to receive an SEA allowance. Additionally, self-employment can take a heavy toll, when it comes to your mental health. With the Self-Employment Assistance Program, they do not provide services to help you in that department. So, you will need to keep yourself in check at all times on this matter. As mentioned before, you are the boss now. Make sure to give yourself a break every once in a while; it will be good for you.

What is good for you, will be good for your business too! Recipients of these benefits available to self employed workers will receive a Subsistence Expense Allowance SEA , as opposed to traditional unemployment benefits. The goal of an SEA Program is to provide support for workers who are in the process of becoming self employed. If you are eligible, you could receive weekly allowances while working on starting your business.

This program is not mandated to be in every state. If you are interested in seeing what assistance options are available near you, you can look for resources online. The United States Department of Labor has resources on their website, but you can also find information at your local State Workforce Agency.

It tried to answer the following specific problems: 1 What are the micro-entrepreneurial projects put up by the beneficiaries? The descriptive-evaluative method was used in this study to determine the impact of the Self-Employment Assistance Kaunlaran Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development to its beneficiaries.

Major Conclusions were: 1 More beneficiaries are inclined to entrepreneurial activities that are easy to manage and need small capitalization like vending 2 The impact was very strong along availability of capital, easy installment repayment scheme and interest free loan.

Very strong impact was on the development of camaraderie, promotion of savings mobilization, and readiness of the association as credit conduit.

Instead, UC-eligible individuals participate in self-employment activities and must meet additional requirements, including being determined likely to exhaust their UC benefits. SEA allowances are available to individuals who are eligible for unemployment benefits and who meet certain other requirements. In participating states, STC programs provide pro-rated unemployment benefits to workers whose hours have been reduced in lieu of a layoff, thereby retaining workers.

Although SEA offers this alternative route out of unemployment, participation in the program by states and unemployed workers is low, partly as a result of a budget neutrality requirement.

The operation of SEA programs in states may not cost more than what would have been spent if a state had not participated in the program i. To participate in a state SEA program, workers do not need to be actively searching for jobs. Rather, SEA beneficiaries must engage in full-time activities related to the establishment of a business and becoming self-employed.

States identify UC claimants likely to exhaust benefits through the same worker profiling mechanism used in the WPRS program. Weekly SEA allowances are the same in amount and duration as a qualifying individual's regular UC benefit. Participants in state SEA programs for UC claimants are not eligible for the temporary, now-expired EUC08 program or the permanent EB program, both of which may provide additional weeks of benefits for unemployed workers.

In addition, one state Louisiana has the authority in law for SEA, but does not have an active program. Details are provided in Table 1. Table 1. Source: U.

Nationally, 6. Some studies suggest that workers may be more likely to move into self-employment during economic recessions and to move out of self-employment during periods of economic growth.

The authorizing legislation also requires that a SEA program be budget neutral. State SEA programs may not incur additional costs above what the state would have spent on the regular UC program.

Despite this budget neutrality stipulation, states are required to provide entrepreneurial training, business counseling, and technical assistance to SEA participants.

Thus, not only is participation in SEA capped, but states must seek out their own money to finance program administration and training. Both of these issues likely contribute to low SEA participation rates. In addition to state-level barriers, there are individual-level barriers that may explain why unemployed workers do not participate in SEA programs, even if they are available.

First, SEA participation generally makes workers ineligible for other unemployment benefits i. Also, the recent recession and current economic climate provide a challenging environment for starting a new business. As a result of these restrictions and challenges, the number of individuals participating in state SEA programs for UC claimants is relatively small. In , there were only 2, SEA participants nationwide. Table 2 presents data on SEA participants by state for recent years.

Table 2. A "0" in this table indicates that there were no SEA participants in a state in a given year, which may be due to a state 1 no longer having the authority in law for a SEA program; 2 having an inactive SEA program; or 3 having no SEA participants in an active SEA program. DOL data do not distinguish between these three conditions.