US jobless aid: Record low since WWII

The number of unemployed Americans receiving benefits is at a record low since World War II.

On Saturday, 1.3 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits after Congress failed to extend an emergency federal program under which jobless American workers received unemployment insurance payments.
According to data compiled by House Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee, the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits is the lowest since the US Department of Labor began keeping records in 1946.
Before December 28, 38 percent of unemployed Americans received unemployment insurance through their state or federal government. But now, as the program has expired, only a quarter of jobless Americans will receive the benefits, the lowest rate in over half a century.
The program provided jobless Americans looking for work with up to 47 weeks of supplemental unemployment insurance payments.
If the unemployment insurance is not extended, according to the data, US citizens will continue to lose their benefits at a rapid pace; 72,000 Americans a week.