Unemployment benefits program ends in MO

Due to its declining unemployment rate, Missouri is no longer eligible to operate the state Extended Benefits unemployment program.

The benefits program, which is managed by the U.S. Department of Labor, ended in Missouri on April 7, according to a news release from the Missouri Department of Labor.

Missouri employers added 2,300 jobs in February, bringing the state's unemployment rate down to 7.4 percent. According state Department of Labor, unemployment in Missouri is at its lowest rate in 38 months, and it is down from a recent peak of 9.7 percent in August 2009. The state department was informed by the federal government that Missouri no longer qualifies for the Extended Benefits program because its current three-month average unemployment rate is less than 110 percent of any comparable period during the past three years.

The end of the program affects 9,000 of the 112,000 Missourians currently receiving unemployment, according to the release.

The Extended Benefits program provides assistance to workers who have received the maximum amount from regular state benefits and Emergency Unemployment Compensation, another federal benefits program.