Forty million people benefited from extended unemployment benefits programs put in place to fight the recession that started in December 2007, according to a White House report released Thursday.

Fourteen million people laid off through no fault of their own received benefits under the Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits programs that Congress allowed to lapse this week, and the White House Council of Economic Advisors estimates that “an additional 26 million people living in their households benefited indirectly.”

Arthur Delaney, huffingtonpost.com

The plight of people who have exhausted all 99 weeks of unemployment insurance available in some states — the “99ers” — has received some attention from Congress and the media, but mostly their predicament is regarded as an intractable and pitiful part of a bigger problem.

Arthur Delaney, HuffingtonPost.com

New York’s monthly statewide unemployment rate has been on the decline since February 2010.  New York State’s 3 month average unemployment rate for April, May and June is 8.3%.

This is now below the 8.5% three month average unemployment rate that is required by the federal government to trigger six weeks of additional benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) Tier 4.  The U.S. Department of Labor has informed us that, starting August 16, no new claims can be filed for Tier 4 benefits.

NYS Dept. of Labor/laborbuzz.labor.ny.gov 

President Barack Obama urged Congress on Monday to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, saying that Senate Republicans have allowed short-term political concerns to trump the needs of the jobless.

During an appearance in the Rose Garden, Obama argued that the federal government has “a responsibility to offer emergency assistance to people who desperately need it” and an obligation to help families “make ends meet.” (See video.)

cnn.com