The Labor Department announced that the official unemployment rate rose to a whopping 9.8% last month. That number is based on how many people are currently receiving unemployment benefits. That means that if you are unemployed, but you are not receiving benefits, you and the fact that you don’t have a job, is not factored into this total number.
I’m part of this 9.8%. As I blogged earlier, I was permanently laid off by my employer on September 15 and I’m now receiving unemployment benefits. Though I live in Maryland, I worked in Pennsylvania. Because of this, I’m receiving unemployment compensation from Pennsylvania, not Maryland.
I’ve got nothing but praise for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Because of where I worked, I’ve been going through the Lancaster UC Service Center. Take everything you’ve ever heard about government bureaucrats and throw it out the window when it comes to these people. They’ve been nothing but helpful and exceptionally nice. I’ve called them on two different occasions and both times the person I spoke was totally helpful. When I submitted my first biweekly claim over the Internet, a person from the Lancaster office walked me through the entire process over the phone. It made the whole process a lot less stressful.
Take it from me, when you are jobless, less stressful is good.
