U.S. News: Michigan Braces for a Surge in Welfare Applications --- Strict System Installed in 1990s Has Kept the State's Caseloads Down, but Exhaustion of Jobless Benefits Will Pose a Test Soon
Corrections & Amplifications</br></br>Families in Michigan can receive welfare benefits for a maximum of four years. A U.S. news article Friday incorrectly said the maximum was two years.</br></br>(WSJ June 29, 2009)</br></br>Michigan's generous jobless benefits and strict eligibility rules have kept the welfare rolls down despite the state's 14.1% unemployment rate, the highest in the country. But a surge in jobless workers reaching the time limit for unemployment benefits in coming months could change that.</br></br>A major test for the state's welfare system could come by January, when nearly one in seven unemployed workers will have exhausted their jobless benefits, unless the laws change, said Norm Isotalo, a spokesman for Michigan's unemployment-insurance agency. Many of the more than 680,000 unemployed workers in the state are collecting jobless benefits, which last for as long as 79 weeks.