Extended Unemployment Benefits

As a part of social security schemes, many countries have benefits for people who are unemployed. These benefits are made available to people with the help of insurance systems that may be semi-governmental in execution. The amounts that are handed out as unemployment benefits differs depending on the laws of the country and the funds allocated towards the scheme. In the United States this unemployment compensation is given to a person who is unemployed because of reasons that he or she has no control over, or has not contributed to in any manner. It is categorized as a benefit under the social welfare scheme of the country and is state run in nature, therefore these benefits in Texas may differ from the benefits provided in California. There are almost 50 unemployment benefit programs that are running in the United States. Due to repercussions of the economic recession that are still being felt, the US government announced benefits for those people who have already used up the insurance benefits available to them.

Unemployment Benefits

These benefits are generally available to a person for a fixed period, until the person is able to find employment elsewhere. These benefits generally last for 26 weeks. This may differ depending on the number of weeks you has worked for, in the year you are making claims for. These monetary payments made to the worker is in order to help him sustain himself when he has no means of income. The benefits are a way of ensuring that in times of economic turmoil, the person who has been given the pink slip has assistance for some more time.

A person is deemed ineligible for benefits if he or she has quit without a valid reason, has been fired from his place of work for misconduct of any sorts, resigned from his previous job due to health reasons (in such a case he or she is eligible for disability insurance), resigns to get married, is self-employed, is involved in any kind of dispute with labor unions or, quit for further education. In any such scenario, a person will not receive any benefits. In case you have been asked to resign from your job, then filing for unemployment should be a priority as it takes time for the checks to start reaching you. If you want to know how to collect unemployment, you will need to file a claim for which you will need your social security number (in case of non-citizens, alien registration card), your mailing address, your phone number and the details of your employers for the past two years.

Extended Unemployment Benefits: Overview

Started under the Federal State Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 1970, these benefits are also under the Extended Benefits program which is also known as FED-ED. These benefits are generally provided to those workers who have used up the insurance available to them due to extended unemployment resulting from economic troubles in the country. These programs being state run can extend benefits as and when they deem fit according to problems highlighted by economic indicators.

Most basic extended benefits programs last for 13 more weeks of benefits and these programs are started when the state is seeing high unemployment rates. In several states, in case of high levels of unemployment, they have programs that provide benefits for seven more weeks. Some states provide 13 - 20 weeks of extended employment. This amount that the individual receives is the same as the amount received as regular unemployment compensation. In case a state decides to start an extended benefits program, all beneficiaries of regular unemployment compensation receive an update informing them of their eligibility for the same. One can also contact the state unemployment insurance agency for information.

As mentioned earlier, these benefits depend on your state or residence and there are different tiers for which these extended benefits are valid. Tier 1 of benefits last for 20 weeks, tier 2 for 14 weeks, tier 3 for 13 additional weeks of benefits (this is applicable for states in which the unemployment is 6% or higher) and tier 4 means up to 6 more weeks of benefits (unemployment rate higher than 8.5%). In July 2010, President Barack Obama signed a law that restored denied unemployment benefits after having been cut off leaving almost 2.5 million Americans without any benefits of any kind. According to the bill, benefits are now applicable through November extensible to 99 weeks.

In a period of economic uncertainty, extended unemployment benefit programs ensure that several out-of-work people of some form of sustenance in order to support their families and themselves. With millions of people unemployed and experts predicting that the unemployment rates are expected to fall only by 2012, these benefits are the only source of income for many families.