House approves extending unemployment benefits for 13 weeks in 27 states

Senate could pass the bill in November

By: Arthur Mondale | WNCT-On Your Side
Published: September 23, 2009

New unemployment benefits are on the horizon. On Tuesday, the House approved a bill that extends unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks.
But it's good only if your states unemployment rate is 8.5% or higher. North Carolina would qualify.
Conrad Whitfield thought he would retire as a welder for Nacco Handling in Greenville. Earlier this year he was laid off--and next month his unemployment benefits are scheduled to run out.
"Progress comes through struggling--not quitting,” Whitfield said. “Going after a thing and pursuing it--not sitting around."
So for Whitfield and others like him word of an extension is good news, "We need every break we can get."
"This has been different because this is more extensions than we've seen at least in the last 25 years,” said Greenville ESC & Joblink manager Danny Alston. “Extensions several years back was just that one extension beyond your regular unemployment--this has been several extensions."
The Labor Department believes the recession and a record number of people exhausting their benefits this summer are behind the extensions.
The money for a new federal extension will be paid through the federal unemployment tax.
Alston says 13 weeks of new benefits will go quickly and even though our states unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percent to 10.8% last month, things aren't promising.
Alston adds, “There may be some hiring sporadically but there's still a lot of people unemployed that just can't find work."
Lawmakers speculate the Senate could pass the bill in November.