Unemployment Benefits

The payday loan industry has found a new and lucrative source of business: the unemployed. Payday lenders, which typically provide workers with cash advances on their paychecks, are offering the same service to those covered by unemployment insurance. No job? No problem. A typical unemployed Californian receiving $300 a week in benefits can walk into one of hundreds of storefront operations statewide and walk out with $255 well before that government check arrives -- for a $45 fee. Annualized, that's an interest rate of 459%.

The number of Americans filing for jobless claims barely moved last week, leaving more unemployed workers applying for benefits than analysts had expected. With 338,000 workers filing first-time claims during the week ended Saturday, according to the Labor Department , hopes for heady improvement in the labor market continue to shrink. Though that's 1,000 fewer applications than during the earlier week, initial unemployment benefits are still hovering around a three-month high last reached in January.

The tough overhaul of unemployment benefits is saving Florida millions. In the first three months of the new law, 65% of claimants were denied unemployment benefits, a percentage rate three times higher than in the same period in 2010, according to data from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The denials in those three months will save the state $10.85 million, the agency said. Florida's tougher unemployment law requires those claiming benefits to report online each week five jobs they've applied for or to meet with a state jobs counselor.

News reports Thursday morning highlighted two seemingly disappointing economic indicators: claims for new unemployment benefits were higher than expected , and sales of existing homes dropped slightly from the month before. But the data weren't as bad as the headlines suggested. They just weren't very good. And as a consequence, they don't fit into the dueling story lines that President Obama and his likely Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have been advancing in their campaigns.

Two bright-red phones at the Verdugo Jobs Center in Glendale are direct lines to the state offices that manage unemployment insurance, the benefit that can be a lifesaver after a layoff. But because of record unemployment levels in the state, picking one up doesn't mean you'll get through any time soon. "Sometimes people call all day," said Carolyn Anderson, manager of the center.

Thousands of long-term unemployed Americans from across the country have converged on Washington this week to dramatize their plight and to urge Congress to extend federal unemployment insurance benefits and the payroll tax cut, and to pass President Obama's jobs bill. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13.3 million Americans are unemployed. Nearly half have been jobless for more than six months — a record. If you add workers who are so discouraged that they've given up looking for work, and people who are underemployed (working part time but who want full-time jobs)

Striking baseball players will not be able to collect unemployment benefits in New York, state Labor Commissioner John Hudacs ruled Friday. The action by Hudacs came after a state senator expressed outrage that New York was the only state where striking players could collect benefits. State Sen. Joseph Holland had promised to submit legislation that would keep major leaguers from collecting unemployment checks.

New applications for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in five weeks, but they remained in a range usually associated with better labor market conditions, government data showed Thursday. Initial claims climbed 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 362,000 in the week ended March 3, the Labor Department said. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 354,000 from 351,000. The level of claims is an indicator of whether layoffs are rising or falling. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had estimated that claims would rise to 355,000 for last week.

President Obama signed legislation Thursday extending jobless benefits to 2.5 million unemployed Americans, ending a long partisan battle. The House passed the measure earlier Thursday, a day after the Senate did. The law extends unemployment insurance through November for out-of-work Americans who have not yet exhausted up to 99 weeks of aid. Benefits would be retroactive to late May, when the previous extension expired. Jobless benefits vary from state to state but typically expire after 26 weeks.

With the supercommittee in the rearview mirror, Congress returns to session this week to battle on new fronts: a possible extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits that expire at year's end that President Obama wants renewed. Failure to extend the payroll tax break would result in an average $1,000 tax hike for working Americans on Jan. 1, an outcome both Republicans and Democrats hope to avoid. The Senate will vote on the proposal this week, but it is likely to fail in the face of GOP opposition.

New applications for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in five weeks, but they remained in a range usually associated with better labor market conditions, government data showed Thursday. Initial claims climbed 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 362,000 in the week ended March 3, the Labor Department said. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 354,000 from 351,000. The level of claims is an indicator of whether layoffs are rising or falling. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had estimated that claims would rise to 355,000 for last week.

With a final deal approved by negotiators, Congress moved toward a Friday vote to extend a payroll tax break and other expiring measures that are among President Obama's top priorities. The expected votes in the House and Senate would cap a tumultuous week that produced a deal with prominent detractors on both sides of the political aisle. But as the Feb. 29 deadline neared for the expiration of the tax break, the compromise reflected the desire by Republicans to move on to other battles.

Despite discomfort in the Republican ranks, House and Senate negotiators reached a deal in principle early Thursday to extend a payroll tax break, continue unemployment benefits and ensure that Medicare doctors do not get a pay cut this year. As talks continued past midnight Wednesday — the ostensible deadline — at one point a source with knowledge of the private session confirmed a deal had been reached. But about an hour later, the source cautioned that some details remained to be worked out. The chief negotiators, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana and Republican Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, holed up in the Capitol.

Despite discomfort in the GOP ranks, House and Senate negotiators were close to striking a deal that would extend a payroll tax break, continue unemployment benefits and ensure Medicare doctors do not see a pay cut this year. Talks continued into the evening Wednesday as Republican and Democratic congressional leaders worked to present a package that could be voted on by week's end - before lawmakers adjourn for a weeklong recess. Without action, taxes would go up on March 1, unemployment benefits would end and doctors' pay would be slashed by 27.4% -- politically toxic outcomes all sides hope to avoid.

In another sign that the job market is gaining momentum, the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits fell further last week — down to levels last seen in the early months of the recession. The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time jobless claims dropped by 15,000 to 358,000 last week, although week-to-week changes can be volatile. The average for the last four weeks, a more reliable measure, dropped to 366,000 — the lowest four-week average since April 2008.

The GOP-led House is ushering forward bills to freeze federal employee pay and ban welfare recipients from accessing their benefits through ATMs at casinos or strip clubs -- moves intended to give Republicans leverage for including those proposals in negotiations to extend President Obama's payroll tax holiday for the remainder of the year. Democrats have been cool to such measures and are likely to dismiss them in talks to extend the payroll tax break. Negotiators met Wednesday to resolve the standoff on the tax break, which expires Feb. 29, and are expected to meet again Thursday.

Republican leaders predicted Sunday that Congress would reach agreement to extend a payroll tax cut before it expires at the end of February, though it remained unclear under what conditions, ensuring that more partisan, election-year fighting lay ahead before the issue is decided. "I'm confident that we'll be able to resolve this fairly quickly," House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said on ABC's"This Week. " "We'll get it done," Senate Minority Leader Mitch M. McConnell (R-Ky.)