Pennsylvania jobless benefits exhausted

My original home-state of Pennsylvania seems to be having increasing problems with unemployment, this AP story detailing some of their recent woes, troubles that didn't look all that bad (relatively speaking) in this animated chart of jobless rates around the country posted here over the weekend.

Thousands of jobless Pennsylvanians are joining the growing ranks of people around the country who are exhausting unemployment benefits, as some experts worry about another blow to a stumbling economy.

Gov. Ed Rendell said 17,800 Pennsylvanians exhausted their jobless benefits in the week that ended Saturday, the first big wave of Pennsylvanians to do so. He urged legislators to pass a bill to extend the benefits.
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Many unemployed Pennsylvanians currently are eligible for up to 72 weeks of benefits, including 13 from the stimulus law. The state unemployment rate just reached the three-month average of 8 percent, qualifying residents for another seven weeks once legislation pending in the state Senate is approved.

It's a real "sign of the times" when you hear about a state unemployment rate of 8 percent and think they're doing a whole lot better than most of the country, though, in the latest data they appear to have topped the ten percent mark.