Congress Extends Unemployment Benefits
President Bush signed legislation that will extend unemployment benefits for seven weeks in staes with unemployment rates below 6% and thirteen weeks in states above that rate.
The legislation was passed on the heels of a Bureau of Labor Statistics report showing that more than 1.2 million jobs have been lost in 2008 and that the jobless rate is at a fourteen-year high of 6.5%.
Many states are considering either raising taxes or reducing benefits to deal with rising unemployment. Beginning in 2009, Wisconsin will raise its unemployment tax for the first time in 20 years ($41 per employee). Michigan is also raising its tax for the first time in more than 20 years ($67.50 per employee).
