About 44,000 people in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina will benefit from the extension of unemployment benefits, including 8,399 in Forsyth County.
In most of the region's 14 counties, the majority of recipients are in the initial level of state unemployment-insurance benefits, which can last up to 26 weeks.
Larry Parker, a spokesman for the N.C. Employment Security Commission, said it may take a few days for the U.S. Labor Department to provide all the details from the extension agreement.
"Most people will be allowed to go on to the first federal tier or the next federal tier as normal," Parker said. "It's unclear how many consecutive tiers they will be able to go through with this agreement."
Part of the uncertainty comes because benefits for the long-term unemployed are being cut from the current maximum of 99 weeks to a ceiling of 73 weeks for the states with the worst job markets.
Recipients in other states will likely exhaust their benefits at 63 weeks. Parker said it is unclear into which category North Carolina will fall.
As of Wednesday, North Carolina had borrowed nearly $2.67 billion from the federal government — the fourth-highest amount among 27 participating states. Parker said the state and federal governments traditionally split the cost of extended state benefits. In early 2009, the federal government picked up 100 percent of the cost through stimulus funding. That money has run out.
The state may require employers to pay a higher unemployment tax to help pay off the federal borrowing. North Carolina's jobless rate appears to have improved enough that the legislature would have to amend certain criteria to continue to qualify to borrow federal money.
People who exhaust their state and federal benefits find themselves in a frustrating Catch-22. Essentially, their unemployment payments are over unless they can get another job, and get laid off again, at which time they will be eligible for new benefits.
Many employers, though, still remain reluctant to hire, particularly full time.
Richard Craver
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