Wisconsin’s improving unemployment rate will result in fewer weeks of benefits for those who remain without a job.
With the state’s three-month unemployment rate below 7 percent, Wisconsin no longer meets the federally required threshold for an extra nine weeks of benefits under an emergency compensation program. As a result, about 10,500 Unemployment Insurance claimants who exhaust their benefits after September 14th will no longer be able to move up to the next tier of the program.
The state Department of Workforce Development says the change means the maximum number of weeks someone is eligible to collect UI benefits will drop to 54, instead of the current 63 weeks.