Will the new unemployment benefit extension apply to people that are already receiving the first extension of benefits in Maryland?

The unemployment statistics used to calculate the unemployment rate, and thus, a State's eligibility for extended unemployment compensation benefits are inaccurate and resulting in not only the denial of Federal benefits to the State but also the denial of the individual unemployed worker to equal protection under the law.

The labor force components (civilian labor force, employed, unemployed and unemployment rate) as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are set forth below:

Civilian labor force. Included are all persons in the civilian noninstitutional population classified as either employed or unemployed. (See the definitions below)

Employed persons. These are all persons who, during the reference week (the week including the 12th day of the month), (a) did any work as paid employees, worked in their own business or profession or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of their family, or (b) were not working but who had jobs from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, bad weather, childcare problems, maternity or paternity leave, labor-management dispute job training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or not they were paid for the time off or were seeking other jobs. Each employed person is counted only once, even if he or she holds more than one job.

Unemployed persons. Included are all persons who had no employment during the reference week, were available for work, except for temporary illness, and had made specific efforts to find employment some time during the 4 week-period ending with the reference week. Persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off need not have been looking for work to be classified as unemployed.

Unemployment rate. The ratio of unemployed to the civilian labor force expressed as a percent [i.e., 100 times (unemployed/labor force)]."

The State of Maryland does not include any unemployed worker who has received more than 47 weeks of extended unemployment benefits. In the absence of an accounting for these individuals, the unemployment rate for the State of Maryland as used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, cannot be accurate and has resulted in the denial of extended unemployment compensation to those unemployed workers who would otherwise be eligible of the unemployment rate were accurate.