Today’s UI benefit claims data from the U.S. Department of Labor reveals another record number of Americans collecting unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.  The almost 9 million currently collecting UI benefits is an increase of 1 million from the level before the so-called stimulus bill.  This counts the 6 million receiving State UI benefits (payable for up to six months) and the almost 3 million collecting Federal UI benefits (payable for up to another 12 months).  The current total of 8.9 million unemployed workers collecting UI benefits in the week ending June 20, 2009 – the most recent week of complete data – is triple the number (2.9 million) who collected UI benefits just one year ago.

Source: Ways and Means staff, based on U.S. Department of Labor data.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor data.  Data is weekly claims, defined as the number of people filing a claim for unemployment benefits of each type in each week.  For prior weekly totals, see https://waysandmeans.house.gov/?replace=news&p=133627

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