Expanding Unemployment Insurance
Feature Story by Daren Hawthorne - 12/4/2008
On November 21, in the wake of rising unemployment numbers, President Bush signed a seven-week extension of unemployment insurance benefits for those Americans whose benefits have expired. Beyond an extension, however, advocates for workers' rights argue that unemployment insurance should be expanded to include more of the unemployed and help millions of Americans survive the current recession.
In October, the unemployment rate hit 6.5 percent, a 14-year high.
Unemployment insurance serves as temporary financial assistance to unemployed workers. The benefit amount is based on a percentage of an individual's past earnings. In most states, an individual can receive unemployment benefits for a maximum of 26 weeks.
Workers' rights groups like the National Employment Law Project (NELP) say that while the extension will help many Americans, it will not address the millions of unemployed workers who do not qualify for unemployment benefits because of outdated eligibility rules.
The proportion of the unemployed receiving jobless benefits is low, with just 37 percent of unemployed Americans collecting benefits this year.
Currently, people who apply for benefits must meet a minimum earnings threshold, show documentation of wages received, and prove that they are unemployed through no fault of their own, such as through a layoff. These requirements disqualify many unemployed people, especially temporary workers, low-wage workers, and independent contractors.
In 2007, Congress introduced the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act to update the eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits. The bill would provide up to $7 billion in federal funding for states that adopt specific reforms to their eligibility rules for unemployment benefits and cover more people.
In addition, it provides $500 million to help with the administration of state unemployment insurance programs.
