A Pennsylvania extended-jobless-benefits program ends

Even as senators in Washington engage in high-profile wrangling over a bill that would extend federal unemployment benefits beyond June 2, a Pennsylvania extended-benefits program has more quietly come to an end.

The program ends as state officials estimate 104,000 residents will lose their benefits at the end of this month.

In early May, the program that paid extended unemployment benefits for a final 20 weeks stopped issuing checks.

That's because, according to the specific way Pennsylvania calculates the numbers for the benefit, the average unemployment rate in Pennsylvania over the last 13 weeks has fallen below 5 percent.

Five percent sounds impossible, with the national rate at 9.7 percent and the state just last Friday announcing a 9.1 unemployment rate for May.

But the rate is different depending on who is paying the bill.

In Washington, senators are debating a measure that would not only extend federal unemployment benefits to individuals, but would also extend extra funding for benefits to high-unemployment states.

The extra benefits are triggered by a high unemployment rate. But which unemployment rate? In Pennsylvania, if the federal government pays for the extra 20 weeks, the trigger happens when the unemployment rate regularly reported in the news rises above 8 percent - where it has been for months.

But, if the state, as is usual in a recession, has to share the cost of the extra weeks with the federal government, it uses a more conservative trigger - an unemployment rate of 5 percent among only those employers who pay into Pennsylvania's unemployment-insurance fund.

That average rate fell below 5 percent in May.

If senators in Washington pass the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, also known as the "extender bill," the trigger will return to 8 percent.

The debate over this and other help for the jobless comes as more and more Americans are exhausting their unemployment benefits.

Even though the economy has been adding jobs lately, nearly 15 million people nationally and 591,000 in the state remain jobless, with the average length of unemployment surpassing eight weeks.

Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry estimates that 104,000 Pennsylvanians will run out of benefits in June. By the end of the year, without an extension, 414,200 will lose benefits.

New Jersey's unemployed will not run out of government benefits as quickly because its extended-benefits program is set up differently.

Here's a quick primer on Pennsylvania unemployment benefits.

Initially, the unemployed receive 26 weeks of state benefits paid for by employers and employees via payroll taxes. Then, four tiers of extended benefits paid for by the federal government kick in. These are the benefits now being debated in Washington.

Then, there were 20 more extended-benefit weeks available through the state, but funded by U.S. stimulus dollars. Pennsylvania's version ended in May.

The "extender bill" in Washington would continue providing money to the states, including Pennsylvania, to fund 100 percent of their extended-benefit programs, returning the eligibility in Pennsylvania back to 8 percent.

So far the bill has passed the House. Now, the debate in the Senate has to do with how to fund the extensions. The measure has yet to hit the floor for a vote - proponents lost two key procedural votes.

It is a lot of numbers, whether it is counting benefit weeks or votes. At a symbolic "soup kitchen rally" at City Hall on Wednesday, Jerome Stone, 56, an unemployed health-care worker who has been out of a job for 18 months, said the Senate had to pass an extension.

"If it gets any worse, we're going to go back to the Depression," he said. "If things don't get better, I'll be walking the streets like the homeless. That's my biggest fear."