Federal and State Unemployment Assistance

• Eligibility for state unemployment funds rests with individual state laws. Indiana, for instance, allowed seasonal workers an opportunity to file for unemployment benefits during regular periods without work until the law exempted this category of workers in July 2011. Symphony musicians on regular sabbatical during the summer months also applied for and received unemployment every summer in the Hoosier State. Other state laws, including those in California, excluded seasonal workers from applying for unemployment benefits.
  
  

Basic Benefits and Extensions

• States require a minimum number of months of covered employment before honoring claims for unemployment. Washington State, for instance, in 2011 mandated a total of 680 hours of "covered work," where the employee paid into the state-sponsored insurance fund to qualify for unemployment benefits. Payment of unemployment benefits requires meeting specific regulations, including the reason for the unemployment and evidence of prior earned income in the state. The unemployment applicant must be healthy and available for work and must also show evidence of actively seeking work during the period of accepting benefits. States make payments over a set number of weeks for the unemployed. Once the individual exhausts the personal benefit funding, the state has the option of ending or extending benefits. A number of states, including Indiana and California, extended state benefits for 20 weeks to qualified applicants beginning in 2009.
  
  

History of Benefit Extensions

• When the state exhausts local unemployment funds, the federal government has the option of adding supplemental funds to state accounts. Determination to open federal funds for state use includes infusing money into the economy to impact national inflation rates and to introduce cash into the national economy. The U.S. Employment and Training Administration in 2010 offered states with high unemployment rates additional funds for extended benefits. These funds paid for up to 20 weeks of additional benefits.
  
  

Recent Benefit Extensions

• States experiencing high levels of unemployment, over 8 percent for some funding or more than 8.5 percent for later funds, qualified for federal funding to extend state unemployment benefits. Tier 1 of the federal program supplied benefits for an additional 20 weeks, with Tier 2 adding 14 more weeks. When the additional funding provided little impact to national unemployment rates, funding under Tier 3 extended benefits for an additional 13 weeks. Tier 4 added six more weeks of benefits for the state's unemployed. The last tier of federal benefits allowing state extensions expired July 10, 2011.