Unemployment Benefits

President Bush's chief economic adviser, Michael Boskin, this week confidently declared an end to the recession that he predicted would never come. But even if Boskin is technically right in applying the arcane formulas of economics, the recession is by no means over for the 8.7 million Americans without jobs.Less than half that army of unemployed, however, is receiving unemployment benefits. The reason: Either they never qualified under increasingly stringent federal standards, or if they did qualify, their benefits have expired.

WASHINGTON -- Albert Hall, a laid-off Baltimore truck driver and bricklayer's helper, came to Congress yesterday to say that 26 weeks of unemployment benefits won't cut it."I can't live my life on 26 weeks," said 33-year-old Mr. Hall, whose benefits and pay from a part-time janitorial job of three months bring in $230 every two weeks.Mr. Hall was joined by more than a dozen other laid-off workers from Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York who said the current benefits limit for most states expires before they can find a decent job."

WASHINGTON -- In the face of huge layoffs at companies like Sears Roebuck, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney, the Clinton administration is preparing to extend the unemployment benefits of the 1.7 million Americans now receiving them, Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich said yesterday."

From the point of view of businesses, the Catch-22 of unemployment insurance has always been this: When the economy is at its worst, they are taxed the most. Mark down 2009 as offering no exception to that particular rule. Based on calculations set today, Maryland is poised to raise unemployment insurance premiums to the maximum rate allowed by law in order to replenish a trust fund badly depleted by unemployment claims. In this, neither Gov. Martin O'Malley nor his Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation has any choice.

WASHINGTON - President Bush called on Congress yesterday to act immediately when it convenes next month to reinstate unemployment benefits for 750,000 people whose assistance will run out three days after Christmas. Bush said the benefits should be paid retroactively to Dec. 28 once they are restored. He otherwise offered few specifics of the legislation he wants passed by Congress, where his party will be in control of the Senate and the House starting next month. Unemployed workers "need our assistance in these difficult times, and we cannot let them down," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

The state Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that more than 1,300 workers who participated or assisted in a one-month strike against Giant Food Inc. were not entitled to unemployment insurance.In an opinion reversing two lower court rulings, the state's highest court ruled that, because the strike constituted a "stoppage of work," workers were disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits.The decision marks a victory for Giant, the Landover-based subsidiary of Royal Ahold NV, the Netherlands-based international food retailer.

WHEN THE new Congress convenes Tuesday, President Bush and congressional leaders will have a chance to make up for their hard-hearted failure to extend unemployment benefits before the Christmas holiday break. Apparently, they have figured out that cutting off benefits for about 780,000 jobless people, including about 10,000 Marylanders, three days after Christmas is not the smartest public relations move. I hope that when they return from vacation they will focus more on addressing the needs of the unemployed than on their need to avoid bad press.

Maryland business groups dismayed by Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to expand unemployment benefits, which could cost companies an estimated $20 million a year, are negotiating ways to offset the expense. O'Malley said last month that he wants the state to broaden the qualifying period for benefits so that the state can access about $127 million in federal money to prop up its quickly shrinking unemployment insurance fund. The change requires legislation. Business groups have balked at O'Malley's proposal to implement what's called the "alternative base period," which increases the period of time that is examined when determining whether someone is eligible for unemployment benefits.

The 3,500 workers at General Motors Corp.'s plant on Broening Highway were to begin filling out unemployment compensation forms today in preparation for a three-week shutdown.Starting Monday, the East Baltimore plant that makes minivans will be closed for two weeks to reduce production in the wake of sagging automobile sales nationwide. The shutdown is to be followed by the traditional one-week holiday closing of the plant until Jan. 2.In addition to receiving state unemployment benefits, the workers will get payments from GM that will enable them to receive 85 percent of their normal pay for two of the weeks of the shutdown.

In the third week of July, new claims for unemployment benefits in Maryland fell by 3.8 percent, compared with a month before, the state reported yesterday.The jobless claims report provides the most current data on the state's economy, and the decline in new claims, to 3,666 from 3,811 a month ago, is an encouraging sign that fewer people are entering the state unemployment system.Compared with one quarter ago, total claims were down more than 13 percent."I think claims are definitely showing a downward trend," said Pat Arnold, director of the state's Office of Labor Market Analysis and Information, which compiles the weekly jobless numbers.