Unemployed workers who have exhausted all of their unemployment benefits this year should start receiving instructions this week on how to claim the new federal unemployment benefits extension.

The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency is sending letters to some 70,000 to 80,000 jobless workers who may be eligible for the extension approved earlier this month.

There is also the issue of the end-of-the-year filing deadline. The bill signed by Obama earlier this month, H.R. 3548, grants an additional six weeks of unemployment aid to jobless workers who will have exhausted their benefits by the end of 2009 and live in a state with an unemployment rate at or above 8.5 percent. But because the new law treats the 20-week extension as two separate extensions (one of 14 weeks and one of six weeks) with participants required to exhaust the first 14 weeks before applying for the next six, the December 31 application deadline prevents anyone from collecting the full allotment. (The end of the year is seven weeks away, so no one will have exhausted their initial 14 weeks by then.)

Currently, no fix has been introduced. But some members of Congress are open to the possibility of another broad unemployment extension that could address the deadline glitch and provide additional help to those who lose their insurance after the New Year. And it might be housed in the “jobs bill” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) talked up last week, although specifics about the scope of the plan were not announced. Keep an eye out on that front.

The legislation provides seven additional weeks of payments to people who have exhausted their benefits or will exhaust them soon. Those in states where the unemployment rate is above 6 percent will be entitled to an additional 13 weeks above the 26 weeks of regular benefits. Benefit checks average about $300 a week nationwide.

This extension will help unemployed Americans looking for jobs. However this is not a blanket rule, and states such as Virginia that have lower unemployment rates do not offer the extension.

The benefits provided would be in addition to 13 weeks of federally funded extended benefits Congress approved last June.

Unemployment insurance is a joint program between states and the federal government that is almost completely funded by employer taxes, either state or federal.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose 5.4 percent to 586,000, the largest number of new claims since November 1982, according to national figures released Wednesday by the U.S Dept. of Labor. The number was higher than economists had predicted and up 30,000 from the Dec. 13 count.

Employers including automakers accelerated firings in the final months of 2008, and job losses for the year are forecast to exceed 2 million. The deteriorating labor market prompted President-elect Barack Obama this week to expand his economic stimulus goals and call for creating or saving 3 million jobs over the next two years.

The Commerce Department said consumers reduced their spending by 0.6 per cent last month, following a 1 per cent drop in October. But the steep plunge in gasoline prices, which is good news for consumers, made the declines look worse.

Excluding price changes, consumer spending would have dropped by 0.5 per cent in October and actually risen by 0.6 per cent in November. The November increase excluding inflation was the best showing in more than three years.

We are excited to launch this website and intend to put together a comprehensive site that contains all the info about Unemployment in US. Instead of visiting many websites and Govt. agencies to get accurate information, visitors will be able to learn all about Unemployment here. We will provide informative articles on the following topics and more

• Unemployment Insurance
• Unemployment Benefits
• Unemployment Benefits Info for all states
• Filing for Unemployment at state office and online

The site will also host discussion forums, news feeds, online polls and the whole nine yards of web 2.0 features. One of our goals is to make the jobless process less painful. This site will also hose job search aids, employment opportunities and career guides.

We always welcome Users feedback. If you would like us to provide any features, do let us know through our Contact-us page

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