FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENSIONS REAUTHORIZED
THROUGH APRIL 5, 2010

    March 3, 2010 —  The federal government approved legislation continuing the five federally funded unemployment extensions through April 5, 2010. This legislation also continues the $25 per week additional payment. The law DOES NOT provide any additional weeks of benefits, said the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Eligible Hoosiers will be able to resume receiving these federal benefits beginning Thursday, March 4, 2010, by completing their weekly voucher on Uplink, DWD's online unemployment filing system.

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GOING THE WRONG WAY; N.W. INDIANA'S JOBLESS RATE JUMPS TO 10.3% IN DEC. '09, SHARP RISE FROM 9.7% PRIOR MONTH

    During December 2009, the jobless-rate arrow pointed the wrong way — up — for each county in Northwest Indiana; the regionwide rate, thus, rose to 10.3 percent from 9.7 percent in November '09.  The numbers illustrate a painfully harsh reality of the Great Recession's grip on Northwest Indiana even as some components of the national and global economies move into recovery mode. Yet, on a brighter note, Northwest Indiana's economy and jobs are intertwined with those slowly recovering national and global economies; as those ships rise, Northwest Indiana's will too — but it will take time.

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