BD things have went on long enough that the employee / employer funds are used up for many claims, that is the reason for the federal extensions. Tax payers are footing the bill. It is needed though but...........

Well here goes nothing. Those who know me know I retired last year but I could have drawn unemployment in fact I could have drawn my pension and unemployment at the same time, all I had to do was a job search and you work around that by doing most online. If I had wanted to sign up for a retraining program could have stretched out things even more with the COBRA set up in the mix. It is really a complex system but once you get it down you can run it 24 months or more out. ( oh yes mine was $600 a week before taxes ) .

Bottom line for me was hell I wanted to retire and didn't care if it cost $1000 a year on my pension to go out especially when my severance paid my medical to 65.

Now if I had wanted to I could have done this. Taken severance paid off my medical, NOT got my pension going but rather draw unemployment for 18 months ( with extensions looks like two years or more now ) with ZERO intent of taking any job, signed up for retraining which would have extended it out further. I have a friend ( went a little before me ) who did just that so he could run things out and not use his savings until he got at Soc Sec.

Bottom line is many, many, people are desperate and need help. Others run unemployment out before they go for work simply because they can and by picking up cash on jobs that aren't reported do ok. In this state they can not force you take a job down the pay scale so you can ride it out on unemployment. Friend of mine once decided she wanted the summer off anyway when her job left so did just that. Said at 40 it was like being 16 again not having to work.

As in many things argued on this BB everyone is right and nobody is wrong just depends on your circumstances! It is a system designed as a safety net that works but it has a lot of room for abuse in it.