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by Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director<\/strong><\/p>\n Not necessarily. I always assumed that when you worked, then lost your job, you\u2019re automatically entitled to unemployment benefits\u2014they are part of our American \u201csafety net.\u201d Turns out I was wrong: according to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal<\/a>,<\/em> July 29, only 37% of the country\u2019s unemployed received benefits in 2007, down from 55% in 1958 and 44% in 2001. The Journal<\/em> based its numbers on Labor Department<\/a> statistics.<\/p>\n The workers who don\u2019t qualify for unemployment include part timers, people who quit or were fired, and those who didn\u2019t earn enough money in a one-year \u201cbase period\u201d that often excludes the most recent 3-6 months. Most states\u2019 base period includes the first four of the last five completed quarters. States often require an average weekly wage in calculating their base period.<\/p>\n Covering a mere 37% of the unemployed is unconscionable. Unemployment benefits are often the only life jacket that workers can grab onto to keep food on the table and the lights on. Low income workers bear the brunt of this policy, with fewer than 15% of low wage workers getting benefits, according to the Government Accountability Office.<\/p>\n