• Jobless benefits set to expire unless Congress acts, By Erik Eckholm, November 18, 2009, New York Times: “About one million laid-off workers will see their unemployment benefits end in January unless Congress acts quickly to renew existing federally paid extensions, according to a new survey and legislators and state officials. The record-long extension of emergency benefits that was hastily signed into law on Nov. 6 was widely praised as an essential lifeline for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who had spent a year or more in fruitless searches for jobs. The new law provided up to 14 weeks of federally paid aid to unemployed people who had exhausted existing state and federal limits, benefits that already extended up to 79 weeks in many states. And for the majority of states with particularly high unemployment, it added an additional six weeks of payments, bringing the potential total to 99 weeks…”
• Extension of jobless benefits won’t help many, By Jane M. Von Bergen, November 17, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “On the same day the U.S. Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate had reached a landmark 10.2 percent, President Obama signed a law extending unemployment benefits by up to 20 weeks in some states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey. ‘I was so relieved,’ said Dawn Brown, 41, a mother of two from North Wales who lost her market-data research job in June. ‘It just took all the worry away.’ But the new law won’t help Brown at all - or anybody else who has been laid off since late June. Not only that, but, as written, no one in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or any of the nation’s other high-unemployment states will be eligible for the last six weeks of the 20-week extension. It’s all a matter of timing. And the timing is tricky…”
• Jobless Tennesseans won’t get as many extra benefits, By Bonna Johnson, November 18, 2009, The Tennessean: “Additional unemployment benefits that Congress approved for the jobless earlier this month won’t be as sweet as most people expected due to fine print in the law. The upshot is that instead of 20 weeks of extra benefits at a maximum of $300 a week, many Tennesseans probably will draw only 14 more weeks - on top of 79 weeks previously received - before the aid runs out due to a Dec. 31 cutoff date. The mix-up is confusing and confounding to many jobless workers who have exhausted or are about to run out of their government aid. Approximately 35,500 Tennesseans getting unemployment checks could be affected. Still, some people said they’re just happy to be getting anything…”

• Job woes exacting a toll on family life, By Michael Luo, November 11, 2009, New York Times: “Paul Bachmuth’s 9-year-old daughter, Rebecca, began pulling out strands of her hair over the summer. His older child, Hannah, 12, has become noticeably angrier, more prone to throwing tantrums. Initially, Mr. Bachmuth, 45, did not think his children were terribly affected when he lost his job nearly a year ago. But now he cannot ignore the mounting evidence. ‘I’m starting to think it’s all my fault,’ Mr. Bachmuth said. As the months have worn on, his job search travails have consumed the family, even though the Bachmuths were outwardly holding up on unemployment benefits, their savings and the income from the part-time job held by Mr. Bachmuth’s wife, Amanda. But beneath the surface, they have been a family on the brink. They have watched their children struggle with behavioral issues and a stress-induced disorder. He finally got a job offer last week, but not before the couple began seeing a therapist to save their marriage…”
• Job losses both deep and enduring, especially for the young, By Floyd Norris, November 13, 2009, New York Times: “The rise in unemployment that has occurred in the current recession has been hardest on young workers, while having a smaller effect on older workers than previous downturns. Women have been more likely than men to hold on to their jobs. The overall unemployment rate, which reached 10.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last month, remains below the post-World War II peak of 10.8 percent, reached in late 1982. But the proportion of workers who have been out of work for a long time is higher now than it has ever been since the Great Depression. The persistence of joblessness for so many people - 5.6 million Americans have now been out of work for more than half a year even though they have continued to seek employment - may provide the greatest challenge for the Obama administration if it decides to seek a new economic stimulus program…”

• Unemployment rate rises above 10%; Obama signs jobless benefit extension, By Don Lee, November 6, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “As the nation’s unemployment rate surged to 10.2% in October, reaching double digits for the first time in 26 years, President Obama signed a measure today providing additional aid for the jobless as well as expanding and extending a home buyer tax credit to help spur economic growth. ‘The need for such a measure was made clear by the jobs report we just received this morning,’ Obama said at the White House. He called the Labor Department figure released today ‘a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead.’ The unexpectedly sharp increase in the unemployment rate, from 9.8% in September, came as employers dropped 190,000 workers from their payrolls last month. That was larger than the 175,000 job losses that most forecasters were expecting for the month, and it underscored just how dire the labor market remains despite the recent upturn in the nation’s economic output…”
• U.S. unemployment rate hits 10.2%, highest in 26 years, By Peter S. Goodman, November 6, 2009, New York Times: “The American unemployment rate surged to 10.2 percent in October, its highest level in 26 years, as the economy lost another 190,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday. The jump into the realm of double-digit joblessness - from 9.8 percent in September - provided a sobering reminder that, despite the apparent end of the Great Recession, economic expansion has yet to translate into jobs, leaving tens of millions of people still struggling…”

• Adjusted state unemployment rate hits 17.2%, By Howard Fischer, October 27, 2009, East Valley Tribune: “Arizonans have been told for months now that the state jobless rate is hovering in the low 9 percent range. But it turns out that’s pretty much only half the story - literally. New federal figures show Arizona’s real unemployment situation is already in double digits - 17.2 percent - when also accounting for people who are “underemployed” because they can’t find full-time work and discouraged Arizonans who have given up their job search…”
• State snafu stiffs unemployed, By Edward Mason, October 30, 2009, Boston Herald: “Thousands of desperate jobless Bay Staters - at the end of their ropes and unemployment benefits - thought the state had tossed them a lifeline when new checks arrived in the mail, only to learn it was all a big mistake and now they have to give the money back. The state Division of Unemployment Assistance mistakenly sent checks totaling $3.4 million to 4,159 out-of-work residents who’d exhausted their benefits, thanks to a glitch in the office’s archaic computer system, the Herald has learned…”
• Poor Unemployment Insurance planning adds extra burden to Conn., South Dakota employers, By Olga Pierce, October 26, 2009, ProPublica: “Employers in Connecticut and South Dakota face hefty tax increases in the midst of a recession because their states’ unemployment insurance trust funds ran dry last week. The two states, like many others, have solvency taxes — a special tax increase that kicks in when their trust fund balance goes below a set amount…”
• Benefit checks are on the way, By Yvonne Wenger, October 29, 2009, Charleston Post and Courier: “It’s official: the state Legislature fixed an oversight Wednesday that will send tens of millions of dollars to unemployed workers. Gov. Mark Sanford will sign the bill today and residents could receive a check within a week. The Legislature returned in special session this week to change wording in a law that will allow federal stimulus funds to provide an additional five months of unemployment benefits to out-of-work residents…”

23 states report higher unemployment in September, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), October 21, 2009, Washington Post: “Unemployment rose in 23 states last month as the economy struggled to create jobs in the early stages of the recovery. While layoffs have slowed, companies remain reluctant to hire. Forty-three states reported job losses in September, while only seven gained jobs, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Wednesday’s report underscores the uneven nature of the recovery. The unemployment rate dropped in some Midwestern states as the manufacturing sector improved. But Florida and Nevada, two of the states hit hardest by the housing slump, reported record-high jobless rates. Some of the states that lost jobs still saw their unemployment rates improve, as discouraged workers gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but no longer looking for jobs aren’t counted as officially unemployed…”

• State botched chance for aid, By Katy Stech, October 16, 2009, Charleston Post and Courier: “Thousands of out-of-work South Carolinians will miss out on five months of unemployment checks because state officials failed to tweak a rule enabling them to tap into federal stimulus money. The state’s high jobless rate, one of the worst in the country at 11.5 percent, means some unemployed residents could be receiving an additional 20 weeks of checks when they run out of their current state and federal benefits. More than 113,000 South Carolina unemployed residents already have exhausted their benefits. To get access to the additional money, state lawmakers needed to pass temporary changes to the economic index they use to trigger additional emergency benefits in times of unprecedented financial hardship. No bill was ever proposed. South Carolina is one of two states eligible for the most generous benefits but is not receiving them. The other is Mississippi…”
• Leaders aim to fix benefits, By Katy Stech, October 17, 2009, Charleston Post and Courier: “State lawmakers scrambled Friday to figure out if they could fix an oversight that has cost thousands of out-of-work South Carolinians extended unemployment benefits. Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and House Speaker Bobby Harrell said they support fixing the problem, which could involve calling a special session of the General Assembly, and deployed their staffs to determine the cheapest, easiest way to make the necessary changes to the law. ‘It’s an open-ended question at this point,’ said McConnell, who expects his staff will come up with an answer early next week. Calling a special session, by McConnell’s estimate, would cost about $17,000 but could bring the state tens of millions of dollars in federal money for unemployed residents. Meanwhile, federal policy experts indicated that, if the proper changes are made, some residents who missed out on earlier benefits could start receiving weekly paychecks again…”

Unemployment at 33-year high; insurance fund running dry, By Kay Lazar and Robert Gavin, October 16, 2009, Boston Globe: “Unemployment in Massachusetts has reached its highest level since the 1970s, officials said yesterday as they also disclosed that the state will exhaust a fund that helps laid-off workers pay for health insurance by the end of next month. State officials said they are considering a number of emergency measures, including imposing higher costs on the unemployed and raising fees on employers, to close a gap that could exceed $50 million by April. ‘Every option is on the table,’ Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Suzanne Bump said in an interview after her staff briefed an advisory board of labor and business leaders yesterday. ‘Nothing stays the same.’ The unrelenting rise in unem ployment will also trigger an automatic 40 percent increase in the tax businesses are required to contribute for unemployment benefits. In January, the tax will increase from an average of $594 per employee to $832…”

For long-term unemployed, payments near end, By Patrick McGeehan, October 11, 2009, New York Times: “Tens of thousands of New Yorkers have had the unfortunate distinction of collecting unemployment benefits longer than anyone in the state’s history. But last week, state officials began warning the long-term unemployed that Congress has not approved another extension of unemployment insurance payments. That lapse will leave about 37,000 residents of the state, like Robert C. Brannigan, without benefits this week, and will force others to contemplate applying for food stamps or other forms of welfare that they had never considered. Mr. Brannigan, a 26-year-old construction worker from Mastic, received his final weekly payment of $430 last week, but he still is No. 20 on a waiting list for jobs assigned by his union in Manhattan. When he checked the State Labor Department’s Facebook page for news about a pending extension, he found a video explaining how to apply for food stamps and other assistance from the state…”

• Many Minnesotans at end of jobless benefits, By Dee DePass, October 5, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Former University of Minnesota plumber Keith Ferguson got his last unemployment check last week. Now the Maple Grove father of four, unemployed for 20 months, is wondering how he’ll pay child support and feed himself. It is a dilemma facing millions of unemployed Americans who have counted on as many as 79 weeks of government checks to help them make ends meet through the worst recession in decades. Almost 5.5 million workers have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, a record. In Minnesota, an estimated 1,000 people currently exhaust unemployment benefits each week, said Dan McElroy, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). When the last federal extension expires the day after Christmas, the number will grow given that new job growth is expected to remain slow…”
• Senate Dems reach deal on extending jobless benefits, By Jim Abrams (AP), October 8, 2009, Seattle Times: “Senate Democrats said Thursday they have reached a deal to extend unemployment insurance benefits to the nearly 2 million jobless workers across the country who are in danger of running out of assistance by the end of the year. The agreement would give an additional 14 weeks of benefits to jobless workers in all 50 states. Workers in states with an unemployment rate at 8.5 percent or above would receive six weeks on top of that. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried to bring the measure to a quick vote on the Senate floor, but Republicans objected, saying they needed more time to study the proposal and its costs and possibly offer amendments. The House last month approved legislation that gives 13 weeks of extended benefits, but only in those 27 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that have unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent…”

• Obama aides act to fix safety net, By Jackie Calmes, October 5, 2009, New York Times: “With unemployment expected to rise well into next year even as the economy slowly recovers, the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are discussing extending several safety net programs as well as proposing new tax incentives for businesses to renew hiring. President Obama’s economic team discussed a wide range of ideas at a meeting on Monday, following his Saturday radio address in which he said it would ‘explore additional options to promote job creation.’ But officials emphasized that a decision was still far off and that in any event the effort would not add up to a second economic stimulus package, only an extension of the first…”
• States offer route for jobs spending, By Gerald F. Sieb, October 6, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “The really bad news for Democrats isn’t that the unemployment rate hit 9.8% last week. The really bad news for the party in power is that the last time unemployment reached that level, it was there or higher for exactly one year. That was between July 1982 and June 1983. If you are thinking of this precedent in political terms, it is important to note that smack in the middle of that dreary stretch, the party then in control — the Republicans — lost 26 House seats in the 1982 midterm elections. Today’s downturn is even harsher, and there is some evidence that the American job-creating machine doesn’t work quite as well now as it did then, even in good times…”

Jobs report highlights uncertainty of U.S. recovery, By Peter S. Goodman, October 2, 2009, New York Times: “The American economy lost 263,000 jobs in September - far more than expected - and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, the government reported on Friday, dimming prospects of any meaningful job growth by the end of the year. The Labor Department’s monthly snapshot of unemployment suggested that the economy was plodding through a faltering recovery that could pose big challenges to lawmakers worried about a growing public outcry over both big government deficits and high unemployment. The numbers could intensify pressure on Congress to provide additional unemployment benefits and extend some programs that are set to expire toward the end of the year, such as tax credit for first-time homebuyers and health-insurance subsidies for people who lose their jobs…”

• Unemployment claims slide continues, By Hibah Yousuf, September 24, 2009, CNNMoney.com: “New filings for unemployment insurance fell for a third straight week, the government said Thursday, surprising economists. There were 530,000 initial claims filed in the week ended Sept. 19, down 21,000 from a revised 551,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in a weekly report…”
• Initial jobless claims decline for third straight week, By David Grant, September 24, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped last week to 530,000, down 21,000 from the previous week. The 530,000 mark - the third lowest number of claims in 2009 and the lowest since the week ending July 11 - surprised many analysts, who had expected the number of claims to remain the same or even tick up slightly. There was also a decline of 123,000 in the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits, bringing that total down to 6.1 million for the week ending Sept 12, the last week for which information is available…”
• State Labor leaders want jobless benefits extended, By Denise Jewell Gee, September 24, 2009, Buffalo News: “The state labor commissioner warned today that the cost of supporting unemployed workers could fall to state and local governments if federal lawmakers do not extend unemployment benefits. M. Patricia Smith joined labor leaders from 17 other states to call on Congress to extend unemployment insurance benefits an additional 13 weeks…”

House moves to extend unemployment benefits, By Jim Abrams (AP), September 21, 2009, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Despite predictions the Great Recession is running out of steam, the House is taking up emergency legislation this week to help the millions of Americans who see no immediate end to their economic miseries. A bill offered by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and expected to pass easily would provide 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits for more than 300,000 jobless people who live in states with unemployment rates of at least 8.5 percent and who are scheduled to run out of benefits by the end of September…”

Suddenly shocked by life in a shelter, By Alfred Lubrano, September 18, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Frank Marshall remembers the moment he transformed from unemployed security guard to homeless man. ‘The walk toward my room at the shelter was surreal,’ he said. ‘I pinched myself to believe it was happening.’ Shoehorning himself into a 14-by-10-foot room with three other bewildered men in the Salvation Army’s Railton House in West Chester, Marshall, 48, lay on a narrow bed that looked like a boy’s and stared at the ceiling. On it, he projected images of the life he’d lost: job, apartment, girlfriend. Marshall, who always thought the homeless were drug addicts or schizophrenics, was dumbfounded. ‘There are days when my faith is lacking,’ said Marshall, a Roman Catholic from Phoenixville who is unmarried with no children. ‘This is unbelievable.’ Though the economy is improving, hard times grind on, and many people who lost jobs near the beginning of the downturn are facing the ultimate consequence of unemployment: homelessness. Tomorrow, the maximum of 79 weeks of unemployment benefits and extensions will end for 20,000 in Pennsylvania and 45,000 in New Jersey, officials said. An additional 14,000 Pennsylvanians will exhaust all benefits by next Saturday…”

High jobless rates could last years, O.E.C.D. warns, By Matthew Saltmarsh, September 16, 2009, New York Times: “Unless government programs for the unemployed are refined, there is a danger that high jobless rates will persist beyond 2010 in advanced economies, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned on Wednesday. ‘A recovery may be in sight,’ the group said in its annual employment outlook, referring to economic output. ‘But the short-term employment outlook is grim.’ The international organization said that unemployment among its 30 member nations would rise to nearly 10 percent by the end of 2010, above its previous post-1970 peak of 7.5 percent during the second quarter of 1993. Disadvantaged groups, like youths and immigrants as well as low-skilled and temporary workers, will bear the brunt of the increase…”

• 17,000 state residents will get extended benefits if unemployment rate climbs high enough, By Janice Posada, September 14, 2009, Hartford Courant: “When Connecticut’s unemployment rate dipped to 7.8 percent in July from 8 percent in May and June, economists took it as a sign that recession-related job losses were finally starting to level off. But the slowing pace of unemployment, if it continues, could hurt about 17,000 jobless workers in the state. They would be eligible for seven additional weeks of federal unemployment benefits - but only if the jobless rate jumps to 8.2 percent in August…”
• Soaring jobless rate taxes insurance system, By Eve Tahmincioglu, September 14, 2009, MSNBC.com: “Cynthia Paulson of Mesa, Ariz., made a mistake on her form when she filed for an extension on her unemployment benefits in July, and she fell into a bureaucratic black hole. Mike Dixon of Seattle put in for unemployment benefits after he lost his job as a software engineer, but his employer denied his claim, resulting in a delay of nearly two months in collecting any money. As the nation’s unemployment rate approaches 10 percent, Paulson and Dixon are just two of the hundreds of thousands of people dealing with bureaucratic delays in the nation’s increasingly stretched unemployment insurance system…”
• Falling through jobless benefit crack, By Scott Whipple, September 14, 2009, Bristol Press: “Maybe you caught the special in late August on MSNBC. The network broadcast a chilling report on the estimated 1.5 million people on the verge of losing their jobless benefits. Though the unemployment compensation program has been extended over and over from the basic 26 weeks, the crack is widening and more people are falling through. In fact, the national Employment Law Project expects 540,000 people to fall out of the unemployment program by the end of this month…”
• Congress should continue jobless benefits, Editorial, September 14, 2009, Detroit News: “Nearly 100,000 Michigan residents stand to lose their unemployment benefits at year’s end. Congress is working to extend those benefits and should do so. But Michigan businesses also have an unemployment crisis. They face hundreds of millions of dollars in new unemployment taxes and penalties in the next few years that could damage their recovery and slow the hiring of new workers. It’s a vicious circle that only Congress can fix. Normally, laid-off workers are entitled to 26 weeks of unemployment insurance. The cost of this insurance is covered by a tax levied by the state on all firms. Because of the severity of this recession, Congress has adopted special unemployment benefits covered from the federal treasury for workers. Together, employer-paid and federal benefits now add up to 79 weeks of unemployment coverage…”

• Ga. work program grows, attracts followers, By Christine Vestal, September 10, 2009, Stateline.org: “As states struggle to help legions of jobless workers find employment, some are seeking advice from Georgia, where a growing number of people are landing jobs as a result of free tryouts sponsored by the state unemployment system. The program, dubbed Georgia Works, is so simple that experts say other states should have no problem replicating it…”
• As unemployment benefits run out, Jersey’s jobless wait for extension, By Trish G. Graber, September 11, 2009, Star-Ledger: “Unemployment insurance benefits will dry up for an estimated 33,000 New Jerseyans today, and the state estimates another 3,500 to 4,000 will receive final checks each week through the end of the year as residents exhaust their benefits. Help for the unemployed now rests with Congress, where pending legislation would extend benefits, probably for another 13 weeks. In the Garden State, and many other states, out-of-work residents can collect unemployment for 79 weeks. In New Jersey, the maximum weekly benefit is $584, and the federal stimulus law allows for an additional $25…”

• Despite fixes, unemployment department still tough to reach for many, By Denis C. Theriault, September 7, 2009, San Jose Mercury News: “Despite an infusion of money and workers in recent months, the phone number that most out-of-work Californians rely on for questions about their unemployment benefits or missing checks remains swamped by millions of calls. Officials say it still takes about 17 tries before a live operator is reached at the state Employment Development Department and that nearly two-thirds of the 18.9 million calls received last month were rejected because the phone service was too busy…”
• Wisconsin unemployment phone line dropped 86% of calls, By Ellen Gabler, September 6, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The voices taunt thousands of Wisconsin’s unemployed. Here’s what happens: Unemployed people call a hotline run by the Department of Workforce Development to check on their claims for unemployment benefits or to answer agency questions about their application. The calm, recorded voice of a woman says: ‘To speak with the next available claims specialist, press 0.’ But about 86% of the time, the caller is soon disconnected with a simple ‘Goodbye’ from the calm, recorded voice of a man. The callers still don’t know why their unemployment checks haven’t hit their bank account, and they can’t ask a live person any questions…”

Employers: No more break for Utah’s jobless seniors, By Tony Semerad, September 8, 2009, Salt Lake Tribune: “A political clash is brewing over a clause in Utah law that has big implications for the state’s growing population of jobless senior citizens. For the past five years, working Utahns over age 65 laid off through no fault of their own have been able to collect some unemployment benefits in addition to their Social Security retirement checks. But the law is set to expire halfway through 2010, meaning state legislators will have to wade into the controversy when they convene in January. Known on Capitol Hill as ‘the Social Security offset,’ the issue pits the powerful interests of Utah employers - — who pay for unemployment insurance — against those of the growing ranks of elderly Utahns who continue working past retirement age, or who have been forced to return to work after seeing their savings drained by the recession…”

• In unemployment report, signs of a jobless recovery, By Peter S. Goodman and Jack Healy, September 4, 2009, New York Times: “The American economy lost another 216,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate jumped to 9.7 percent, amplifying worries that millions of households are likely to endure financial anxiety and lean times for months to come. As a technical matter, most economists believe that the United States has escaped the grip of recession, the longest since the Great Depression. The Labor Department’s latest employment report, released Friday, added weight to the view that economic expansion has resumed, marking a continued albeit modest improvement to the rate of lost jobs. Yet the report also lent credence to a growing consensus that the recovery is likely to be weak and fragile, prompting most companies to hold back from hiring aggressively…”
• Jobless picture soon to worsen, By Tamara Lush (AP), September 4, 2009, Modesto Bee: “More than 1.3 million Americans’ unemployment insurance benefits will run out by the end of the year, placing extra strain on an economy that is just starting to recover from the worst downturn in a generation. Of the nation’s 14.5 million jobless, those whose benefits are drying up - in some cases after a record 18 months of government support - are the most unfortunate. In California, the state Economic Development Department said as many as 170,000 of the unemployed it serves are at risk of losing their benefits…”

Jobless claims overwhelm state workers, By Mark Hornbeck, August 31, 2009, Detroit News: “While most state workers are about to take their last unpaid furlough day, Unemployment Insurance Agency employees are racking up overtime. The 800 employees, including call center and problem resolution staff, recently received a memo saying they’ll have to put in 140 more hours of overtime before the end of the year to keep up with the crush of applications from Michigan’s legions of jobless. They’ll have to work seven Saturdays or holidays and then another 80-plus hours of overtime during regular workdays. The overtime will cost $3.4 million, about $4,300 per employee, a tab picked up by the federal government. Michigan has an unprecedented 450,000 residents receiving unemployment compensation and ‘hundreds of thousands’ waiting to get benefits, said Norm Isotalo, spokesman for the Unemployment Insurance Agency. The state’s 15 percent jobless rate is the highest in the nation…”

$3.1B set aside for jobless unclaimed, By Matt Kelley, August 30, 2009, USA Today: “More than $3.1 billion in stimulus money for state unemployment insurance programs is sitting in a federal trust fund because 23 states haven’t expanded their jobless benefits, Labor Department records show. Nearly 350,000 out-of-work Americans could get benefits if all those states revamp their unemployment systems to qualify for federal money, according to estimates from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a workers’ advocacy group. In all, the stimulus package offers $7 billion to states that make changes, which can include offering benefits to part-time workers…”

Jobless rate captures only part of pain, By Mark Niquette, August 21, 2009, Columbus Dispatch: “Considering the number of people she knows personally who are out of work, Amy Drake had suspected that the unemployment rate reported in recent months was too low. “It seemed like, statistically, it should be higher than what we hear in the news,” said Drake, 44, whose Columbus job in information-technology communications was eliminated in March. That’s why it was both illuminating and disturbing for Drake to learn that the unemployment rate, widely used as a key economic indicator and political weapon, wouldn’t include her if she hadn’t looked for a job for a month. Although it’s often assumed that the jobless rate includes all unemployed workers or is based on official claims for unemployment benefits, it actually comes from a monthly survey of about 60,000 households nationwide — and it counts only those who have actively looked for work during the past four weeks…”

Jobless in Texas fight uphill battle when filing claim, By Peggy Fikac, August 15, 2009, Houston Chronicle: “If you lose your job in Texas, you may be out of luck in more ways than one. The Texas Workforce Commission rejected about a third of all jobless claims last year and 27 percent the first half of this year. When jobless people appealed those initial decisions, their chances of winning this year were only about one in four. The controversial reason for the denials is Texas’ tight list of eligibility standards, which the Legislature refused to expand even when offered $555 million more in federal stimulus money in return. Gov. Rick Perry, who led the opposition to the measure, said it would be bad for Texas in the long run…”

• Nevada jobless trust fund nearly broke, By Cy Ryan, August 3, 2009, Las Vegas Sun: ” The trust fund that pays benefits to more than 123,000 jobless Nevadans will be broke by the end of September or early October. To address the shortfall the state will have to borrow $100 million a month from the federal government, state officials told lawmakers Monday…”
• Residents running out of jobless benefits, By Michelle Saxton, August 3, 2009, Charleston Daily Mail: “Hundreds of West Virginians have run out of unemployment compensation benefits and will have to wait until next year to get more help unless the state changes the method it uses to trigger extended benefits. And if West Virginia waits too long, it could miss out on an opportunity to get those extended benefits paid fully by the federal government, unemployment and policy experts say…”

Prolonged aid to unemployed is running out, By Erik Eckholm, August 1, 2009, New York Times: “Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution. Because of emergency extensions already enacted by Congress, laid-off workers in nearly half the states can collect benefits for up to 79 weeks, the longest period since the unemployment insurance program was created in the 1930s. But unemployment in this recession has proved to be especially tenacious, and a wave of job-seekers is using up even this prolonged aid…”

• State’s jobless confront hurdles, By Peggy Fikac, July 26, 2009, Houston Chronicle: “For Jerry, the chance of unemployment benefits is the chance to breathe a little easier for a few weeks. He’d been used to a good salary as an IT consultant, but he’s been out of work for a year. He and his wife sold a car and cut back, but he still puts more on his credit card than he’d like. At 62, he is looking at jobs in neighboring states. Closer to his Panhandle home, he’s competing with high school kids for work…”
• California’s slow handling of appeals from workers denied unemployment benefits gets worse, By Marc Lifsher, July 28, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “California is so slow in handling appeals from workers denied unemployment benefits that it may take years to catch up, state officials say. And the backlog is getting worse. With unemployment now at 11.6% in California and rising, there is a record backlog of more than 82,500 Californians who have appeals pending on their eligibility for checks of as much as $475 a week. At the same time, the state is about to furlough for three days a month the judges and support staff who handle the appeals…”

• Jobless checks for millions delayed as states struggle, By Jason DeParle, July 23, 2009, New York Times: “Years of state and federal neglect have hobbled the nation’s unemployment system just as a brutal recession has doubled the number of jobless Americans seeking aid.  In a program that values timeliness above all else, decisions involving more than a million applicants have been slowed, and hundreds of thousands of needy people have waited months for checks…”
• Claims drop as jobless exhaust state benefits, By Kelly Evans, July 24, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “The number of workers on jobless rolls is declining in an encouraging sign for the U.S. economy, although the decrease partly reflects people exhausting their state benefits. The Labor Department said Thursday that about 6.2 million workers received weekly unemployment benefits, known as ‘continuing claims,’ from their state in the week ended July 11, down from a peak of nearly 6.5 million in late March. The number of new weekly claims also is down from its spring highs…”

Colorado jobless won’t get extension pay till Aug., By Allison Sherry, July 22, 2009, Denver Post: “Out-of-work Coloradans eligible for a 20-week extension in unemployment benefits will have to wait until the end of August to get paid, even though a new law providing those benefits took effect July 1, state officials said Tuesday. By August, between 5,000 and 6,000 people will be due money, said Steve Fowler, director of unemployment insurance at the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment…”

• Texas averts crisis over extended unemployment benefits, By Dave Montgomery, July 21, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “The Texas Workforce Commission took emergency action Tuesday to continue unemployment assistance to as many as 15,000 jobless Texans who were in danger of exhausting their benefits by the end of the month…”
• Unemployment insurance a two-sided political issue for Perry, By Jason Embry, July 21, 2009, Austin American-Statesman: “Gov. Rick Perry’s opposition to federal stimulus dollars for unemployment benefits earlier this year boosted his standing among many Republicans. But other issues surrounding the state’s unemployment program could create political headaches for Perry in the next year and a half…”
• Texas leaders should reconsider the federal stimulus money, By Mitchell Schnurman, July 22, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “At what point does the real world trump politics and principle?  Texas is shaping up as a test case, because more than 23,000 workers are losing their jobs every week and $556 million in federal aid is sitting on the table, unclaimed.  Texas is one of only four states — the others are Alabama, Florida and Virginia — that rejected federal stimulus dollars connected with reforming unemployment insurance. Thirty-six states qualify for the federal money, including more than two dozen that adopted reforms this year, and the rest are still debating the issue…”

Texas stalling on extended pay for jobless, critics say, By Robert T. Garrett, July 17, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “Critics say the Texas Workforce Commission has overstated the role that federal requirements played in delaying 13 more weeks of unemployment benefits for Texans who have been out of work more than a year.  Andrew Stettner of the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers, said a requirement that the jobless document their work searches is a quarter-century old and has been partially waived by the Obama administration…”

• New jobless claims are lowest since January, July 16, 2009, New York Times: “The number of American workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell sharply last week to the lowest level since January, the government said on Thursday, but the data was distorted by an unusual pattern of automotive industry layoffs that amplified the drop…”
• Number of jobless in Mich. hits 740,000, By Louis Aguilar, July 16, 2009, Detroit News: The state’s nine-year battle with unemployment reached a bleak milestone in June, when the number of residents officially counted as jobless rose to 740,000.  That’s the highest monthly jobless total since 1976, when the state began using a new methodology for calculating labor figures, and helped push the state’s unemployment rate to 15.2 percent last month…”
• State jobless rate rises; 740,000 out of work, By Barbara Wieland, July 16, 2009, Lansing State Journal: “Michigan’s unemployment rate, already the highest in the nation, rose another 1.1 percent in June. The Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth said Wednesday that the state’s June unemployment rate stood at 15.2 percent in June, up from 14.1 percent in May and 8.1 percent one year earlier. Michigan’s jobless rate is at the highest level since May 1983…”

Part-time workers mask unemployment woes, By David Leonhardt, July 14, 2009, New York Times: “In California and a handful of other states, one out of every five people who would like to be working full time is not now doing so.  It is a startling sign of the pain that the Great Recession is inflicting, and it is largely missed by the official, oft-repeated statistics on unemployment. The national unemployment rate has risen to 9.5 percent, the highest level in more than a quarter-century. Yet it still excludes all those who have given up looking for a job and those part-time workers who want to be working full time…”

• 13-week unemployment benefits extension held up by U.S. rules, tech glitch, Texas agency says, By Robert T. Garrett, July 15, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “As many as 82,000 unemployed Texans won’t receive an immediate 13-week extension of benefits as they expected because of federal rules and state computer problems, the Texas Workforce Commission said Tuesday…”
• In Texas, thousands face a lengthy gap in unemployment benefits, By Dave Montgomery, July 14, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Up to 15,000 jobless Texans are expected to exhaust their unemployment benefits by the end of July and could be without benefits for more than a month and possibly longer as state officials struggle to implement a 13-week extension…”
• 15,000 Texans to lose checks, By Peggy Fikac, July 14, 2009, Houston Chronicle: “In a sign of lingering hardship, more than 15,000 Texans will lose their unemployment checks at the end of the month because they have exhausted their benefits after 59 weeks without a job…”

Job losses show wider racial gap in New York, By Patrick McGeehan and Mathew R. Warren, July 12, 2009, New York Times: “Unemployment among blacks in New York City has increased much faster than for whites, and the gap appears to be widening at an accelerating pace, new studies of jobless data have found.  While unemployment rose steadily for white New Yorkers from the first quarter of 2008 through the first three months of this year, the number of unemployed blacks in the city rose four times as fast, according to a report to be released on Monday by the city comptroller’s office. By the end of March, there were about 80,000 more unemployed blacks than whites, according to the report, even though there are roughly 1.5 million more whites than blacks here…”

• Jobless feel effects of states’ stimulus rejection, By Ianthe Jeanne Dugan and Kris Maher, July 8, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Latunga Childers lost her $8-an-hour job as a McDonald’s manager in April. Soon after, she opened an envelope from Alabama unemployment officials expecting to find a check.  Instead, there was a letter declaring her ineligible for benefits. Behind that letter was a complicated fight over the federal stimulus and the strings that come with it…”
• Report: States aren’t using stimulus funds as intended, By Matt Kelley, July 7, 2009, USA Today: “Under pressure to spend stimulus money quickly, many states are using the federal funds for short-term projects and to fill budget gaps rather than spending on long-term improvements, according to a report by congressional investigators…”
• States using stimulus to stay afloat, audit finds, By Kimberly Hefling (AP), July 7, 2009, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “The Obama administration hoped that $787 billion in stimulus spending would jump-start the economy, build schools and usher in an era of education reform. So far, many states are setting aside such grand plans and simply trying to stay afloat, government auditors say…”

Safety net is fraying for the very poor, By Erik Eckholm, July 4, 2009, New York Times: “Government ’safety net’ programs like Social Security and food stamps have pulled growing numbers of Americans out of poverty since the mid-1990s. But even before the current recession, these programs were providing less help to the most desperately poor, mainly nonworking families with children, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a private group in Washington…”