RALEIGH — Based on recent notification from the U.S. Department of Labor, North Carolina is no longer eligible for the Extended Benefits (EB) program.
The last payable week of EB will be the week ending May 12. Workers who file their claim through the EB program will no longer be eligible to receive extended benefits once the period ends. Roughly 199,000 people are receiving benefits in North Carolina. Of those, 17,000 people are currently receiving benefits in the EB program.
The N.C. Division of Employment Security (DES) is working quickly to notify those who are potentially affected by this program ending. Claimants currently in the extended benefits program will be notified by mail.
In February, Congress reauthorized 100-percent federal funding for Extended Benefits and a provision allowing states to adopt “three-year look-back” triggers through the end of 2012. With the exception of Alaska, states offering EB have enacted what is known as an “alternative total unemployment rate trigger,” which requires states to have an unemployment rate of at least 6.5 percent and a current three-month average unemployment rate that is at least 10 percent greater than it was during the same three-month period in any of the previous three years (the “three-year look-back”). The estimated last payable week is when states will fail to meet the three-year look-back requirement based on each state’s current three-month average unemployment rate.
The EB program is operated by the State of North Carolina pursuant to state law, federal law and USDOL policy. The EB program is subject to labor market conditions in each state.
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