Unemployment Law to Extend Benefits Signed by Obama

The unemployment law to extend benefits for the next 13 months was signed yesterday by President Obama. The bipartisan compromise also extended current tax rates for two years.

Unemployment Benefits for Christmas

Many unemployed people would prefer a job for the holidays. Now they are at least assured of continued unemployment benefits for Christmas. It's not as hopeful as having a job but the money puts food on the table.

According to the White House website, President Obama stated, "As soon as I sign this legislation, 2 million Americans looking for work who lost their jobs through no fault of their own can know with certainty that they won't lose their emergency unemployment insurance at the end of this month. Over the past few weeks, 600,000 Americans have been cut off from that lifeline. But with my signature, states can move quickly to reinstate their benefits -- and we expect that in almost all states, they'll get them in time for Christmas."

Unemployment Law Remains Unchanged

While some people might think they are getting more unemployment benefits, the law essentially remains unchanged.

MLive reports Stephen Geskey, director of the Michigan Unemployment Agency, explained, "The maximum number of weeks for which we can pay state and federal unemployment benefits is still 99 weeks. There are no new tiers of the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) or not benefit programs. The federal legislation merely extends the ending date for the programs from November 30, 2010 to January 4, 2012."

In other words, unemployed Americans who collected 99 weeks of benefits are still out of luck. No new benefits were added and jobs are still scarce. Foreclosures are likely to continue rising as more people have no income.

Currently the U.S. Labor Department does not keep track of the number of people who have exhausted all their unemployment benefits. It estimates hundreds of thousands of people are not getting unemployment checks or working. How will they put food on the table as charities exhaust their supplies?

Unemployment Situation Remains Dismal

The long-term unemployment situation remains dismal. It's the worst since the Labor Department starting keeping track of it in the 1970s.

As of November, 2010, 4.2 million Americans were unemployed for over 52 weeks. A third of the unemployed were out of work for over a year.

Based on the state of residence, unemployment benefits are extended for 60 to 99 weeks. For example, unemployed workers receive 99 weeks of benefits in Alabama and 60 weeks in New Hampshire. Visit ABC News for a complete listing of extended unemployment benefit terms by state.

Unemployment benefits are a band-aid for bigger problems. When the money runs out, people still need housing, food and jobs. Tax cuts might not be enough to boost a seriously lagging economy.