Survey Finds Lowest Rate in Two Decades : 1 in 4 Unemployed Get Jobless Aid

Just one of every four unemployed people in the United States received jobless benefits in October, the lowest figure in at least two decades, a private research group said Tuesday.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said that, in Michigan and Texas, five of every six unemployed people received no jobless benefits last month.

Michigan’s jobless rate was 10.3% in October, and some 340,000 of the jobless there did not receive benefits, said the center, which based its conclusions on an analysis of Labor Department data for the past 20 years.

Nationally, the percentage of unemployed people receiving benefits was 25.8% in October, only about half of what it was in 1980, when unemployment averaged 7.1% for the year, the same as last month’s jobless rate, said the center’s research director, John Bickerman.

5.9 Million Get No Benefits

The number of unemployed who are not receiving any benefits stood at 5.9 million in October, the same number as in the depths of the last recession in November, 1982, concluded the nonprofit center, which is financed by several foundations.

Government researchers and policy analysts in the private sector say various factors are responsible for the decline in the percentage of the jobless receiving unemployment benefits.

Recent recessions depleted the state trust funds that pay out the benefits, and states were forced to borrow heavily from the federal government to keep the funds solvent. The Reagan Administration began charging interest and imposed financial penalties on states that did not pay back loans promptly. This forced many states to tighten eligibility requirements to qualify for benefits, researchers have said.

Foreign Competition

Another factor is that the jobs of millions of workers in manufacturing industries have been displaced by foreign competition in recent years. Job displacement has resulted in extended periods of unemployment that are not covered by unemployment insurance.

According to the center, for nine of the most populous states, here were figures on the percentage of unemployed receiving benefits and the total number of unemployed people without benefits in those states in October:

Texas, 16.3%, more than 500,000; Ohio, 20.8%, 370,000; Illinois, 22.1%, more than 400,000; California, 32.9%, more than 618,990; Florida, 22.1%, 218,038; New Jersey, 31.9%, 153,173; New York, 26.4%, 439,372; North Carolina, 23.8%, 112,799, and Pennsylvania, 35.6%, 257,734.

In Massachusetts, the center said, 50.5% of the jobless were receiving benefits, and 49,949 people were without benefits in October.