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Mass. to increase benefits for unemployed residents

The Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced on Monday that it would increase the maximum weekly benefit rate to $653 from $625 for unemployed residents.

Unemployment claims filed on or after Oct. 2 of this year are applicable for the change in policy, under the state’s Department of Unemployment Assistance’s policy.

The DUA provides Mass. residents with unemployment insurance and services to assist people into re-employment. Those who claim unemployment with the state collect about half of their average weekly wage once per week.

Claimants can collect checks from the state government for a maximum of 30 weeks.

Each year, Massachusetts law requires the state to adjust its maximum benefit rate in accordance with the state’s average weekly wage. Specifically, the formula takes 57.5 percent of the state’s annual average weekly wage into account. This year, the average weekly wage rose to $1,135.82 from $1,088.06.

The new benefit rate, however, will only affect residents who established unemployment claims prior to Oct. 2, 2011. Those who claimed unemployment before Sunday will still only be eligible for the $625 weekly maximum if they applied last year.

The new rate does not affect the amount of the unemployment check for those who earn less than the state’s average wage per week.

Between 18 percent and 25 percent of people accepting unemployment checks from the state qualified for the maximum weekly rate, according an article in The Boston Globe.

As of August 2011, the unemployment rate in Mass. was 7.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is lower than the rest of the country, as the United States’ rate of unemployment is 9.1 percent.

The employment rate in Mass. has grown twice as much as the rest of the nation in the past fiscal year, according to The Boston Globe. In total, 50,000 jobs have contributed to a 1.8 percent rate of growth since January.

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One Comment

  1. When it comes to unemployment it’s been a tale of two recessions, with level of education playing an unprecedented role in whether you’ve been pink slipped or not. Getting a degree from “High Speed Universities” is the only solution