Unemployment rate tops 10 percent, Congress passes unemployment benefit extension

November 6, 11:29 AMEconomic Policy ExaminerJoseph Hight

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Jahaira Perez, right, and Takela Lawrence, examine job listings in Providence, RI Nov. 5, 2009.

(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Friday, November 06, 2009 that the national unemployment rate reached 10.2 percent during the month of October. The national unemployment rate has not been as high as 10 percent since it reached those levels and higher during the Reagan Administration in 1982-83.

The unemployment rates announced on Friday included a rate of 10.7 percent for adult men and 8.1 percent for adult women. Unemployment was higher among Blacks (15.7 percent) and Hispanics (13.1 percent) compared to Whites (9.5 percent).

Given the continuing high and rising unemployment, it is no surprise that Congress passed a further extension of emergency unemployment benefits on Thursday.

Unemployment benefits have been extended several times during this recession, beginning with the first extension under the Bush Administration when on June 30, 2008, President Bush signed Public Law 110-252 creating the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program. Since then the EUC program has been extended several times, including yesterday’s action by Congress.

States typically provide 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. The EUC program adds additional tiers of benefits of 14 to 20 weeks of benefit weeks, depending on a State’s unemployment rate. Benefits under EUC are funded by the Federal Government. All told, the continued extensions of unemployment benefits under the EUC program when added to State unemployment benefits have provided some unemployed workers with benefits for 18 months or more.

But the depth of this recession, in terms of unemployment and length of time that some workers have remained unemployed, has been severe. Last month fully 35.4 percent of the unemployed, or 5.6 million unemployed workers, were unemployed for 27 weeks or more. That is more than double the percentage of the unemployed who were unemployed for that long in 2007, before the current recession began.