The House of Representatives today joined the Senate in approving legislation that would expand and extend into next spring an $8000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. Existing home buyers will get $6500 home buyer tax credit.

The U.S. Department of Labor this morning reports that the unemployment insurance claims have dropped to 512,000 last week. These numbers reflecting the number of people filing for jobless benefits are the lowest since January of 2009.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, also known as the Federal Stimulus Package, signed into law by the President last week includes many enhancements to Oregon’s unemployment insurance system.

The U.S. Department of Labor this morning released the number of people claiming unemployment benefits and insurance, which keeps growing, meaning we are still in recession. The four week moving average of the seasonally adjusted data of weekly unemployment insurance claims is 639,000.

As unemployment rates reach the highest levels in 16 years, a new analysis from The Commonwealth Fund finds that few laid-off workers—only 9 percent—took up coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) in 2006.

Families USA reports that the premiums for the unemployed people for health insurance is very high as COBRA premiums consume 84 percent of unemployment benefits.

Companies are willing to pay higher wages in order to ensure that workers remain committed and contribute their best efforts to maximize productivity levels, according to a study in the International Journal of Economic Theory published by Wiley-Blackwell. An increase in unemployment insurance, while implying higher wages, is nevertheless beneficial to long term economic activity.

The number of furloughed workers claiming for unemployment insurance in the U.S. fell last week to the lowest level since Oct. 9, though wildfires increased the unemployment rolls in California, the Labor Department reported.