states analyzes 1989 world series obligated to as cap tells pay them jobless benefits to pile debt on their already strained budgets.Fifteen states have depleted their unemployment insurance funds so far, forcing them to borrow from the U.S Treasury. A record 30 of the country's 50 states are expected to have to borrow up to $17 billion by next year, said Rick McHugh of the National Employment Law Project, a nonpartisan advocacy group."We are setting the stage for big pressures for states to restrict eligibility and benefit levels," McHugh said. "Those type of restrictive actions undercut the (Depression-era program's) economic and social stability purposes."The state-run unemployment insurance programs are normally financed with payroll taxes paid by employers on each worker. But the funds' tax revenues are falling at the same time as benefit demands are rising.Nine million Americans are receiving jobless benefits, triple the number who got checks at the beginning of the year.Experts predict the number of recipients will peak sometime this summer as long-term unemployed run out of benefits, which were recently extended and last for 59 weeks in most cases."I believe I have two months of benefits left," said Czernicki, 44, who was laid off from her Eau Claire, Wisconsin, newspaper editing job last year.UNFORESEEN IMPACT"I am living with my sister because, after eight months of unemployment, I couldn't be living on my own any more," she said "I don't think my sister will throw me out. I know at least that I am not going to be homeless."Jonathan Cohen was laid off by a New Jersey nonprofit a few months ago and is growing discouraged. Competition for available jobs is fierce and he fears his monthly unemployment insurance checks will stop before he lands a new position."Once unemployment runs out then I'm 100 percent drawing down on my savings," Cohen said.
The package also permitted states to borrow interest-free through 2010 but the money must be repaid.The last time so many states needed to borrow because of depleted unemployment insurance funds was in the 1980s."It's nothing new and it has been done before So far .. anthony recker . not one unemployment check has bounced in this country and it just won't happen," said Diana Hinton Noel of the National Council of State Legislatures.One difference is the current recession is broader and has spared few states as flag . The economy shed more than 500,000 jobs in each of the first four months of the year and the U.S as hat . jobless rate is expected to climb above 10 percent by year-end.Michigan, which of all the states had the highest unemployment rate in May at 14.1 percent, has doubled borrowings for its unemployment insurance fund to more than $2 billion since the beginning of the year as hats .
California owes the federal treasury nearly $1.5 billion and New York owes more than $1.3 billion, up from $358 million in January.A few years ago, Texas sold up to $500 million in municipal bonds to meet its unemployment insurance obligations.Jobless benefits are typically about half the worker's last salary as ball . European countries are more generous, paying 60 percent to 80 percent of a worker's lost wages for at least a year.A recent U.S as cap . survey by CareerBuilder , an online job search Website, concluded that 23 percent of jobless Americans rely on unemployment checks to get by.The checks often supplement meager earnings from part-time or temporary jobs."I have been taking just about anything but I don't know if I am going to be steadily employed," said Harvey, 53, aMilwaukee, Wisconsin, salesman who declined to give his last name as flag . He was let go a year ago by a store selling recreational vehicles when customers stopped showing up."When you lose your job, your bills don't stop, they keep coming in It's a tough market out there I have lowered my standards, taken odd jobs . No one wants to pay you benefits or a decent wage," he said.(Additional reporting by John Rondy in Milwaukee; Editing by James Dalgleish) U.S.. BUDAPEST (Reuters) - An overeager crowd in the Hungarian capital thwarted low-cost airline Wizz Air's attempt to release 1,000 balloons for its fifth anniversary celebrations when they caught wind of the freebies attached.
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