With the economy slowing down and unemployment rising sharply, many workers who have lost their jobs are finding out that they do not qualify for unemployment insurance. Despite federal and state-level initiatives in the past month to decrease waiting periods for benefits and increase the duration of benefits by up to fifty percent, over 60 percent of laid off employees will be unable to collect any benefits at all. The restrictions on the granting of benefits disqualify precisely those people who often need them the most---parents and low-income workers in unstable part-time job-markets characterized by frequent changes of employer. See "Many out of jobs also out of luck with benefits", by STEPHANIE ARMOUR, USA Today, Oct 15 2001.