Federal Cobra Subsidy Extended 6 more Months

Federal subsidy program for COBRA extended

Thursday, January 7, 2010 — Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin announced Tuesday that the federal subsidy program for COBRA coverage for involuntarily terminated workers has been extended.

The extension allows the subsidy to remain in effect for an additional six months, for a total of 15 months worth of subsidy payments. The subsidy pays for 65 percent of the premium for both COBRA and mini-COBRA (see below for mini-COBRA definition) recipients who are involuntarily terminated from their jobs between Sept. 1, 2008 to Feb. 28, 2010. Workers are responsible for paying the remaining 35 percent.

Read the rest of the story at The Snap Online.

California's UI Fund To Run Huge Deficits

Click on Chart for a Larger Image

How bad are things in the state of California?

Well according to an Unemployment Insurance (UI) Fund forecast issued by California's Employment Development Department (EDD), the fund which is currently about $8 billion underfunded will be over $27 billion in the red by 2011!

That's almost $1,000 for every man, woman and child in the state of California---Or almost $2,000 for every worker in the state---It will likely be many many years before CA is able to dig out of this hole.

Extended Unemployment Insurance Benefits in Michigan

If you're confused by what UI extensions you may be elligible to receive if you're an out of work Michigander, you may want to spend 18 minutes watching this webinar.

It's a pretty dry presentation that explains how after you exhaust your regular benefits you get EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation), then EUC-Tier 2, then Extended Benefits (EB).

Michigan also has plenty of other webcasts for the unemployed worker located here.

How Many Weeks of Unemployment do New Yorkers Qualify For?

The State of New York realizes that it can be confusing for people to know just how many weeks of unemployment insurance benefits they can get while they are jobless.

That is why they published this handy chart and calculator to help you figure out how long the checks will keep coming (as long as you're actively looking for work).

You'll need to know the date of your Original Claim (OC).

How Many weeks of Unemployment Benefits do New Yorkers Get

*OC effective May 1, 2006 - May 12, 2008 26 weeks of regular UI

20 weeks of EUC-Tier 1
13 weeks of EUC-Tier 2
20 weeks of EB
14 weeks of EUC
(13 weeks Tier 3 and 1 week Tier 2)
6 weeks of EUC - Tier 4
99 weeks total

*OC effective May 19, 2008 - Aug. 18, 2008 26 weeks of regular UI

20 weeks of EUC-Tier 1
13 weeks of EUC-Tier 2
20 weeks of EB
14 weeks of EUC
(13 weeks Tier 3 and 1 week Tier 2)
93 weeks total

*OC effective Aug. 25, 2008 - Sept. 8, 2008 26 weeks of regular UI

20 weeks of EUC-Tier 1
13 weeks of EUC-Tier 2
17-19 weeks of EB (payable up to 2/28/10)
14 weeks of EUC (13 weeks Tier 3 and 1 week Tier 2)
73 weeks plus 17-19 weeks of EB based on last payable week

*OC effective Sept. 15, 2008 – Sept. 29, 2008 26 weeks of regular UI

20 weeks of EUC - Tier 1
13 weeks of EUC - Tier 2
14 weeks of EUC
(13 weeks Tier 3 and 1 week Tier 2)
6 weeks of EUC - Tier 4
79 weeks total

*OC effective Oct. 6, 2008 – Jan. 5, 2009 26 weeks of regular UI

20 weeks of EUC - Tier 1
13 weeks of EUC - Tier 2
14 weeks of EUC
(13 weeks Tier 3 and 1 week Tier 2)
73 weeks total

*OC effective Jan. 12, 2009 - Apr. 6, 2009 26 weeks of regular UI

20 weeks of EUC - Tier 1
14 weeks of EUC - Tier 2
60 weeks total

*OC effective Apr. 13, 2009 - Aug. 17, 2009 26 weeks of regular UI

20 weeks of EUC - Tier 1
46 weeks total

*OC effective Aug. 24, 2009 and later: 26 weeks of regular UI only

* An Original Claim's (OC) effective date is the Monday of the week in which the claim is filed.

UI = Regular Unemployment Insurance Benefits

EUC = Emergency Unemployment Compensation

EB= Extended Benefits

(Note: This data was accurate as of January 2010, it's possible that as time goes on more extensions are given to each group).

ADP Jobs Report shows an Increase in Service Jobs

This morning ADP reported that overall jobs were down 84,000 last month, but the service sector actually saw an increase in jobs.

Jake at economPic Data created the chart below that nicely shows how it has been well over a year since the service industry was a net producer of jobs on a month-on-month basis.

Unfortunately, manufacturing has steadily been dropping drops for years & years.


Click on Chart for a Larger Image.

If you wish to read the entire ADP December 2009 Jobs report, click here.