cnn has published data that shows how many weeks of UI benefits unemployed workers are eligable to receive. Wyoming gets the least amount of weeks (26 weeks), and a multitude of states are eligable for Tier 2 or Tier 3 benefits that could bring benefit checks coming for up to 79 weeks.
According to the AP people unemployed in Washington State will see $25/week more in unemployment insurance compensation beginning in May, 2009.Gov. Chris Gregoire signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday authorizing the state to increase temporary federal benefits by $25 a week.
The money is technically available next week. But the state unemployment agency won't be able to reprogram their system until May. So people receiving the extra payments will get a retroactive lump sum payment at that time.
The combined state and federal jobless increases will raise the minimum weekly unemployment benefit amount from $129 to $225, as of May 3. The maximum benefit will increase from the current $541 to $611 per week.
The bill would boost the minimum weekly benefit amount from $129 to $155, and all unemployed workers would receive an additional $45 a week.
That makes the minimum payment $200 per week, and the maximum $586.
The temporary increases would take effect May 3 and end with claims filed on or before Jan. 3, 2010.
A record 90,331 people applied for regular unemployment benefits in December 2008, an increase of about 75 percent over December 2007. Nearly 130,000 Washingtonians currently are receiving unemployment benefits, about 92 percent more than a year ago.Lee said there are some things claimants can do to avoid delays and reduce the number of phone calls:
1) File your initial unemployment claim online atwww.esd.wa.gov. Most people with employment only in Washington within the past two years should be able to use this method.
2) When calling the hotline (800-318-6022), use a landline rather than a cell phone, because there will usually be a wait time that could use up cell-phone minutes. And don't hang up and redial, because it puts the caller back at the end of the line.
3) Provide complete and accurate information in your application, including your Social Security number; the name and address of all of your employers during the last two years, regardless of how long you worked there; the dates you worked for all of your employers during the last two years; and the reason you became unemployed.
4) File weekly claims on Monday through Thursday, avoiding the Sunday rush that sometimes clogs the automated phone system. Weekly claims also may be filed online at esd.wa.gov for most individuals who have had only one employer in the past two years.
5) Use the automated features on the phone system (800-318-6022) on Monday through Thursday evenings for many routine matters, after the "live" calls are done for the day. Claimants can file a weekly claim (option 1), reopen an existing claim (option 2), find out if their check was processed (option 3), provide an address change (option 4), and obtain information about a benefit overpayment (option 6) without speaking to a live agent.
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According to Microsoft's earnings release issued this morning, "Microsoft will eliminate up to 5,000 jobs in R&D, marketing, sales, finance, legal, HR, and IT over the next 18 months, including 1,400 jobs today."
Click on Image for Larger ViewWashington's unemployment rate jumped to 7.1 percent last month, the largest one month increase in more than three decades.
Associated Press Writer
Washington's unemployment rate jumped to 7.1 percent last month, the largest one month increase in more than three decades.
The jump of more than half a percentage point from 6.4 percent in November was the biggest increase reported since 1976, the state Employment Security Department said Wednesday.
The highest unemployment rate on record in Washington was in November 1982, at 12.2 percent. The lowest was 4.4 percent reported in March and April of 2007.
Washington state's unemployment rate has nearly caught up to the national rate of 7.2 percent.
Last year at this time, the state's unemployment rate was 4.6 percent. Washington had 54,600 fewer jobs last month than a year ago, a 1.8 percent decrease. Nationally, employment declined by 1.9 percent over the past year.
"In barely a year, we've gone from historically low unemployment to record numbers of people applying for unemployment benefits," Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee said in a prepared statement.
She noted that a record-setting 90,331 new unemployment applications were filed in December.
Lee said the department has doubled the number of staff answering phones at its call centers and has increased the capacity of its phone system to deal with the increase in unemployment insurance applications.
Economists say nearly 252,000 people are unemployed and looking for work.
*Note---Some States had a range for "Maximum Benefits", but most had a single value. Massachusetts for example was shown as "$600 - $900/week"---I have plotted, the high end of the range. I believe that some states may pay more to people with families than to single workers with no dependents.
