Jobless bill adds 20 weeks unemployment pay in Michigan

News staff and wire reports

Washington -- President Barack Obama said new figures released Friday showing the national unemployment has hit the double-digit mark -- 10.2 percent -- are a sobering reminder of the challenges still facing the U.S. economy.

"I will not rest until all Americans who want work can find work," he vowed.

Obama said his economic team is evaluating options to create jobs and get the economy moving.

Just hours after the new figures were released, the president signed into law a $24 billion bill extending jobless benefits and providing tax incentives to prospective homebuyers.

The unemployment rate is the highest since 1983. Economists believe more jobs will be lost, and the national rate could possibly reach 10.5 percent next year because employers remain reluctant to hire.

The benefits extension provides another 14 weeks of jobless pay to all out-of-work people who have exhausted their benefits or will do so by year's end. Those in states where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or above, including Michigan, get an additional six weeks.

The extra 20 weeks pushes the maximum in Michigan and other high-unemployment states to 99 weeks, the most in history.

Michigan's October jobless rate won't be announced until Nov. 18, but it was the nation's highest, 15.3 percent, in September. The September rate in Wayne County was 18.3 percent, and Detroit's rate was just under 28 percent. Unemployment is significantly higher in Metro Detroit than in the large population centers of neighboring states.

The cost of the unemployment benefit extension, about $2.4 billion, is offset by extending a federal unemployment tax that employers must pay.

Overall, 600,000 Americans have cashed their last unemployment check, including 44,500 in Michigan as of mid-October. Another 30,000 here are projected to exhaust their benefits by mid-December, which is when the state says it can begin sending out checks under the extension.

The housing tax credits extend to April 30 a popular $8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers and expand the program to include a $6,500 credit for homeowners who buy a new place after living in their current residence for at least five years.

It also gives companies expanded ability to apply losses to previous years income, allowing them to qualify this year for $33 billion in tax refunds.