Data: How states compare

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Thanks to several rounds of federal extensions, many states offer up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. But not all. The extensions are pegged to the level of unemployment, so states where employment is relatively high offer less long-term support.

But all the federal extensions are slated to expire in 2012, so unless Congress takes action, unemployed Americans will be abruptly bumped back to their state’s basic benefits come next year. Read more

State	Weeks allowed	Unemployment rate, April 2011
Alabama	99	9.3
Alaska	73	7.3
Arizona	79	9.3
Arkansas	73	7.7
California	99	11.9
Colorado	99	8.8
Connecticut	99	9.1
Delaware	99	8.2
Florida	99	10.8
Georgia	99	9.9
Hawaii		6.1
Idaho	99	9.6
Illinois	99	8.7
Indiana	99	8.2
Iowa	112	6.0
Kansas	86	6.7
Kentucky	99	10.0
Louisiana	73	8.1
Maine	86	7.6
Maryland	86	6.8
Massachusetts	93	7.8
Michigan	99	10.2
Minnesota	86	6.5
Mississippi	79	10.4
Missouri	93	8.9
Montana	75	7.3
Nebraska	60	4.2
Nevada	99	12.5
New Hampshire	60	4.9
New Jersey	99	9.3
New Mexico	99	7.6
North Carolina	79	9.7
North Dakota	60	3.3
Ohio	99	8.6
Oklahoma	60	5.6
Oregon	99	9.6
Pennsylvania	73	7.5
Rhode Island	99	10.9
South Carolina	99	9.8
South Dakota	60	4.9
Tennessee	99	9.6
Texas	93	8.0
Utah	72	7.4
Vermont	73	5.3
Virginia	83	6.1
Washington	99	9.1
West Virginia	99	8.8
Wisconsin	73	7.3
Wyoming	73	6.0
New York	93	7.9
District of Columbia	99	9.6

Sources: NOARK, Enrolled House Bill No. 4408, Florida Senate

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Donald Barlett and James Steele are revisiting America: What Went Wrong, their landmark 1991 newspaper series, in a new project with the Investigative Reporting Workshop. Over the next year, the project team will examine how four decades of public policy has shaped America's ongoing economic crisis.

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