Explanation:
The Extended Benefits (EB) program is a permanent federal-state program that provides up to 13 additional weeks of unemployment benefits to eligible jobless workers in states with high and rising unemployment. At state option, workers in states with very high total unemployment rates (TUR) are eligible for an additional 7 weeks for a total of 20 weeks of EB. Costs of EB are generally split equally between the Federal government and the states.
The Recovery Act provides for 100 percent Federal funding of EB (where EB is federally reimbursed) for weeks of unemployment beginning before January 1, 2010. This gives states an incentive to add the optional "trigger" based on the state's three-month average TUR. It is easier for many states to trigger on using the TUR.
The Recovery Act affected EB eligibility in another way. Generally, an individual must establish eligibility for EB within 52 weeks of first filing a claim for regular state benefits. Given that some workers can collect up to 26 weeks of state benefits and 33 weeks of EUC, some workers would not be eligible for EB since 59 weeks have passed. The Recovery Act permits states to expand EB eligibility to individuals who exhaust EUC while EB is payable in their state for weeks of unemployment beginning before January 1, 2010 with phase out for beneficiaries in payment status ending on June 1, 2010. Of the states currently triggered on EB, almost all have indicated that they are taking advantage of this expansion.
Due to longstanding concerns about the responsiveness of the EB program, the Administration will set forth a proposal to reform the program. As part of this effort, DOL will certainly review the program's triggers. Among the other EB issues DOL would like to address are work search provisions that are difficult to administer since they differ from regular state work search requirements. They are also paper-intensive since the requirements were designed in a time when state systems were not highly automated. While DOL has tried to provide the states with flexibility, this has been difficult because the Federal EB requirements are very specific.
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