The (mostly) bad news keeps coming this week about unemployment. The Labor Department reported that first-time applicants for unemployment benefits rose to 667,000 last week, up from 631,000.
The number of people collecting unemployment benefits is just over 5 million, according to the Department of Labor. (Although there were fewer mass layoffs in January than December.)
I say “mostly” bad news because the stimulus plan has some items in it that can help people who are unemployed. You can get the full scoop from Kathleen Pender’s column in today’s San Francisco Chronicle.
I’ll call out some highlights:
- You can qualify for extended unemployment benefits if you run out of your current benefits before Dec. 31, 2009.
- Everyone receiving unemployment benefits gets a $25 per week raise.
- You don’t have to claim on your federal income taxes the first $2,400 you receive in unemployment compensation.
- People who lost jobs after Sept. 1, 2008 can get COBRA from their previous employer without paying the full monthly premium. If you qualify, you only pay 35%, while the government pays 65% for nine months.
That last item about COBRA is huge, because paying for health insurance takes a huge bite out of any unemployed person’s budget. People who’ve been laid off recently should check into this!
In related news from AP, Nielsen Online is reporting today that job sites saw a 20% increase in January (49.5M vs. 41.5M in 2008) in terms of unique visitors. The top two sites were CareerBuilder and Yahoo! HotJobs.
