High Unemployment Makes People Fatter?

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Great Recession has caused people to start eating worse---People without jobs have to buy more processed foods and less fresh foods, and those with jobs are having to work more (forgoing trips to the gym.)

Consequently, in the last year the rate of Obesity has gone up 1 percentage point to 26.4%.

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Personally, I don't quite believe that there is a cause & effect relationship here. This is because, in my own anecdotal conversations, the unemployed have discovered the gym in their down-time and according to stats, hours worked each week has actually gone down in the last year... My guess is that it's just the continuation of the trend that Americans are getting fatter.

Texas Raising Unemployment Insurance Taxes in 2010

According to the Houston Business Journal, the state of Texas is going to raise the taxes from 0.46% to 0.72%.

That means an employer will pay $64.80 in tax per employee in the 2010 calendar year compared with $23.40 per employee in 2009.

The TWC attributed the rate hike from 0.26 percent to higher unemployment insurance outlays this year.

The tax revenue replenishes the fund that pays workers who involuntarily lose their jobs. About 67 percent of experience-rated businesses pay the minimum.

Meanwhile, the maximum tax rate - paid by 3.3 percent of Texas employers - will increase to about 8.6 percent, up from 6.26 percent, this calendar year. The average tax rate will rise to 1.83 percent from 0.99 percent in 2009.

Jobless Workers in Pennsylvania Now Get 99 Weeks of Unemployment

Jobless workers in Pa. now eligible for 99 weeks of benefits

HARRISBURG, Nov. 6 – State Rep. Marc Gergely lauded President Obama for signing federal legislation today that will provide up to 20 additional weeks of unemployment benefits to jobless workers.

Gergely is the architect of state legislation that was enacted in September that provided seven additional weeks of benefits.

"This important action means many Pennsylvania families that are struggling to find work will have access to a total of 99 weeks of state and federal unemployment compensation benefits," Gergely said. "On the state level, it builds on the change to the law that I sponsored which extended benefits for seven additional weeks to 79 weeks using federal dollars."

Gergely said the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 8.8 percent in September means Pennsylvania is automatically eligible for the additional 20 weeks of benefits for a total of 99 weeks. Under the federal legislation, all states receive 14 more weeks and states with unemployment rates above 8.5 percent will receive 6 additional weeks of benefits on top of that.

"Extending this critical safety net helps thousands of Pennsylvania families who have exhausted their benefits or are close to having their modest unemployment compensation checks come to an end. Hard-working people who are trying to find work will be able to pay their mortgage or rent, feed their children and live with dignity."

Gergely said that in Pennsylvania, regular unemployment compensation benefits are available for 26 weeks, but about one-third of the nation's unemployed have been out of work for a longer period.

"The global economic downturn continues to make it difficult for many workers to find employment, so Congress and the states have appropriately responded by extending emergency federal unemployment compensation benefits several times in the past few months."

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry will contact unemployed people who are eligible for the extended benefits directly by mail. More information about unemployment compensation in Pennsylvania is available on the department's Web site at www.dli.state.pa.us.

Do I get 99 weeks of unemployment?

According to the Wall Street Journal, the maximum amount of unemployment insurance jobless Americans can now receive is 99 weeks---That's almost 2 years of benefits while you're looking to get a new job!

In order to get the additional 20 weeks, your state would need to have had an unemployment rate in excess of 8.5% during the previous 3 months.

When Does the COBRA subsidy expire?

If you are one of the millions of unemployed workers that have taken advantage of the 65% federal government subsidy for your COBRA health insurance coverage, you may be wondering when that benefit expires.

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the subsidy lasts 9 months---so for millions of people who signed up for the coverage in March 2009, they are seeing their health insurance coverage rates rapidly increase. These people will be forced to either pay the higher COBRA rates or shop around for online health insurance quotes.

Even though, congress has extended unemployment insurance benefits to up to 99 weeks, I am not sure if Obama will extend the COBRA subsidy.