(From the Laurinburg Exchange)
With the Scotland's long-standing distinction of holding the state's highest jobless rate, a new bill to extend unemployment benefits could help.
The U.S. House has agreed to give the jobless in a majority of states, including North Carolina, another 13 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits.
The bill passed the House 331-83. Similar legislation is pending in the Senate. The longtime unemployed in states with lower levels of joblessness would not get the extension.
Instead, the extension is targeted to those states with particularly high unemployment with a three-month average total unemployment rate of 8.5 percent. North Carolina’s three-month average unemployment is 11 percent with 17,316 expected to exhaust their benefits through September 2009.
U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell, whose 8th district includes Scotland County, voted for the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act.
“Our unemployment rates in North Carolina are staggering, especially here in the 8th District," Kissell said. "As our workers search for hard-to-find jobs, we must be sure to help them meet the needs of their families."
The immediate effect of the bill would to keep assistance flowing to about 300,000 people, three-fourths of those expected to exhaust their benefits in September. Through the end of the year, it would protect more than 1 million from losing their benefits.
“This extension will help them to buy groceries, make car payments and pay their mortgages as they continue to search for a job.," Kissell said."This is just one of the steps we must take as we work toward economic recovery.”

Kissell added that the bill remains deficit neutral through a one-year extension of the federal unemployment tax that has been in place for more than 30 years.

A total of 6.9 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007. In August, job losses declined to 216,000, the lowest total in more than a year. However, the unemployment rate increased to 9.7 percent. More than one-third of jobless workers have been out of work for more than six months.
The stimulus act passed last February added $25 to people's unemployment checks. It also expanded several federal programs to help cash-strapped states, increasing the maximum level of benefits for the hardest-hit states to 79 weeks.
Because the recession officially began in December 2007, people getting the full 79 weeks could be running out of benefits and would be entitled to the 13-week extension.