More than 370,000 laid-off workers who got their last extended unemployment check in September were still out of work, bringing the total number of people who have run out of temporary federal benefits to nearly 1.5 million, according to a new report by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities.

The 13-week extension of unemployment benefits for laid-off workers who qualify was approved by Congress in March and is set to expire on December 28.

According to the report, if Congress and the President do not act to extend the program, "three million unemployed workers will be left with neither a paycheck nor unemployment benefits for at least part of the next five months."

Workers are also exhausting their unemployment benefits at a faster rate than in previous recessions. From March through September 2002, the report noted, "three times as many workers exhausted their federal unemployment benefits as did so during a comparable period of time in the early 1990s."

One reason why more workers are losing unemployment benefits is that the current extension program is not as generous as past extensions. In the early 1990's recession, unemployment benefits were extended for 26 weeks in most states. But under the current extension, benefits have only been extended for 13 weeks in all but three states — North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington — which have been deemed "high unemployment states."

Full report available at: http://www.cbpp.org/10-29-02ui.htm