Tough choices for states on jobless funds

[The Straight Story]

Tough choices for states on jobless funds


WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- States may ask for $90 billion in U.S. loans within two years as persistent unemployment exhausts state programs to benefit jobless workers, officials say.

Twenty-five states have already run out of jobless benefit funds and the number could reach 40 during the next two years, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Several state governments are faced with the choice of reducing benefits or raising taxes, the newspaper said.

South Carolina, Nevada, Kansas, Vermont and Indiana are already feeling the squeeze and such shortfalls are likely to affect other states in 2010.

The 25 states that have exhausted their unemployment compensation funds have borrowed $24 billion from Washington. The U.S. Department of Labor projects another 15 states will be in similar straits by 2011, the Post said.

Richard Hobbie, director of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, told the newspaper benefits haven't grown and he expects states will cut benefits.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/22/Tough-choices-for-states-on-jobless-funds/UPI-61851261465049/