Thursday, January 21, 2010
(photo: Bearotic)
Twenty-five states have run out of money to pay for unemployment insurance, forcing them to borrow at least $25 billion in order to keep sending out benefits checks. Those in the red, according to ProPublica, include the nation’s largest and most economically powerful states: California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, among others.
In addition to the 25 states that have exhausted their unemployment trust funds, another nine are on their way to being in the same situation within six months: Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Vermont.
A record 20 million Americans collected unemployment benefits in 2009.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Two Dozen States’ Unemployment Funds in the Red, Nine More Within Six Months (by Olga Pierce, ProPublica)
Unemployment Insurance Tracker (by Olga Pierce and Jeff Larson, ProPublica)
Unemployment Insurance Program Changes by State in 2010 (by Olga Pierce and Jeff Larson, ProPublica)
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