Benefits to 230,000 will go on

RALEIGH -- More than 230,000 out-of-work people in the state stand to benefit from a financial lifeline extended by Congress this week.

Under a recession-era aid program, Congress voted Thursday to extend unemployment benefits as much as 20 weeks in some states, providing benefits for nearly two years to those who can't find work. The president signed the legislation Friday.

Most job seekers in North Carolina who qualify for unemployment benefits will qualify for the extensions, said David Clegg, deputy chairman and chief operating officer of the N.C. Employment Security Commission, the agency that handles benefits claims and payouts for the state.

The key to receiving benefits is to submit weekly claims, he said.

"Keep on filing every Sunday," Clegg said. "When you stop filing, we lose you."

Congress extended the benefits to 99 weeks, nearly quadrupling the length of financial aid from 26 weeks last year. Lawmakers have now extended the length of benefits four times as the unemployment rate has climbed and jobs have become scarcer.

The latest extension provides additional benefits for 14 weeks plus another six weeks in states where the jobless rate is above 8.5 percent. North Carolina's jobless rate is 10.8 percent.

The extra benefits paid during the extensions are largely federally funded -- to keep the payouts flowing as state coffers run dry. Nearly half of last year's payout in North Carolina was borrowed from the U.S. Treasury because the state's fund was depleted early this year amid the crush of jobless claims and congressionally mandated benefit extensions.

In the past year, the state's total benefit payouts ballooned to nearly $3.3 billion. The number of benefits recipients has grown fourfold, to about 625,000 so far this year.

More than 230,000 people are receiving jobless benefits in this state, judging by the number of claims filed Sunday. Thousands more are expected to lose jobs in coming months and seek benefits.

The benefit is equivalent to two-thirds of the applicant's weekly wage in the past year, up to $505 a week. Last year, the maximum weekly benefit over 26 weeks had maxed out at $13,130. Now the maximum benefit for 99 weeks will come to about $45,000; complex formulas reduce the weekly benefit during extension periods.

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