Video: Bush signs bill to extend unemployment benefits

Larger screen

SEATTLE – As Washington state braces for more layoffs, President Bush on Friday signed a bill to extend unemployment benefits.

"The new bill provides for an additional seven weeks, and because of where the unemployment rate is in Washington currently, it will allow for an additional thirteen weeks on top of that,” said Neil Gorrell, deputy director of the state unemployment insurance division.

At the state’s public Worksource office in Renton, the unemployed are hopping online to find work.

"You just can't really find anything - nothing to support your family off of,” said unemployed worker Geri Gomes.

"I'm going, quite frankly, a little nuts,” said Gloria Rios, who has been out of a job for six months and having no luck finding a new one.

Painter Jack Gobright doesn’t want an unemployment check.

"No. I'm not really interested in collecting. I'd like a job,” said Gobright.

At Employment Security Headquarters in Olympia, they calculate that right now, there are 223,000 people in Washington out of work and still looking for a job.

In addition, Washington Mutual, Boeing and others are warning of more layoffs ahead.

"Our trust fund, the fund from which we pay benefits, is one of the healthiest in the entire nation. We're currently sitting with a $4.1 billion dollar balance in our trust fund which equates to almost 21 months of payments of unemployment,” said Gorrell.

Washington unemployment benefits are based mostly on wages earned in recent employment. The maximum weekly benefit amount is $541. The minimum is $129.

A new poll conducted for KING 5 News by SurveyUSA shows 63 percent of full-time workers in the Seattle-Tacoma area now are worried about losing their jobs. 37 percent say they’re not worried.