I tend to be all business at the gym and, for that reason, not terribly social. Still there are two people that I’ve become friendly with. The first – an older and recently retired gentleman – I met when he shared just how amazed he was that someone else at our gym read The New Yorker. The second is a pudgy Asian guy who is about my age and also unemployed. I don’t remember how we met.

I see the unemployed guy a few times a week. He always asks after my job search and laments the state of his. (He’s an engineer who’s been unemployed for about seven months.) We might then discuss when the job market will pick up again (mid to late 2009, if we’re lucky) or what other types of jobs I could pursue (sales or something trademark-related). He’s dead set on working as an engineer, so I suggest companies and geographical areas where he might have more luck.

Today we happened to be on adjacent elliptical machines. After breezing through the usual topics and then discussing why the government is better than the private sector (mainly job security), we got onto the topic of Unemployment Insurance. He had recently reached the 26-week point and noticed the balance in the history section of his account was $0. But he’s still receiving payouts.

As I understand the system to work, the original term for which the jobless could expect payouts was 26 weeks. It was extended by 13 weeks and then, on November 20, by another seven weeks. So what that means to me is that he (and I) can make claims and receive payouts for 46 weeks. After that, barring another extension, both of us would be out of luck.

His understanding is a little different than mine. As he explained it, the extensions don’t mean an unemployed person receives more money. They allow for that person to collect the same amount of money over a longer period of time (46 weeks as opposed to 26 weeks). For example, an unemployed person who collects the maximum in New York ($405/week) will collect a total of $10,530 after 26 weeks. The extensions allow that person to spread that amount over a time period up to 46 weeks. He also believes that any money collected beyond the 26 weeks puts your account into the negative. So once you’re employed, you have to repay this.

I think he’s wrong, and here’s why. First of all, the system as he understands it could potentially leave the unemployed worse off. If I were to voluntarily take less money each week to extend the term of the payouts and then find a job before maxing out my benefits, I’d end up with less money. It would make more sense to take the maximum payouts each week and bank whatever I don’t use for when the benefits run out (not that there’s ever extra money). There’s one line of reasoning that makes a tiny bit of sense. People tend to spend what they have, so reducing the benefit and extending the term would help them manage their budget so they’d have money for longer. But that can’t possibly be enough reason to set up Unemployment Insurance this way. His assertion that an unemployed person’s account goes into the negative after 26 weeks is also faulty. Unemployment is funded by a tax on employers not employees.

Still the possibility scared me enough to look into it further. I found nothing to substantiate his understanding of how the unemployment extensions will work. It simply seems that New York state hasn’t updated the wording on the site (except to add a separate page about the extensions) or adjusted its online system. My account still shows that unemployment lasts for 26 weeks too. Maybe the extensions require a claimant to file again. That’s a question I’ll have to ask.

For your reading pleasure, here’s the wording about the extensions on the NYS Department of Labor site…

“On November 20, 2008, Congress passed legislation to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) allowing an additional seven (7) weeks of benefits, for a total of 20 weeks of EUC. This 7-week extension is referred to as Extended EUC, and is based on New York State’s unemployment rate. The first week of benefits that can be paid under this 7-week extension is the week ending November 30, 2008. Unemployed individuals may claim benefits for this week from Sunday, November 30, 2008 through Saturday, December 6, 2008 by using this website or by calling our toll-free Tel-Service number at 1-888-581-5812 (New York State residents), 1-888-864-9920 (out of state residents), or 1-877-205-3119 (TTY/TDD equipment users).”

“Under current legislation, new claims for Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) can be initiated through the week ending March 29, 2009. No EUC can be paid for any week that begins after August 30, 2009. The weekly benefit amount paid for EUC is the same amount the individual received for regular unemployment benefits.”

I did discover one thing that concerns me. My 46 weeks would extend past the August 30 cutoff date. I could theoretically lose a few weeks of unemployment. It may end up a moot point if the job market worsens and Obama extends benefits. I’ll still be calling the Department of Labor bright and early on Monday to find out just what the deal is.

Last week a letter arrived from the NY Department of Labor. Despite my advice to open anything from them immediately, that letter sat in a pile of unopened mail until Sunday night, when I finally got around to it. Really, my hand was starting to cramp up from playing Pathwords, and I was feeling a little guilty for slacking on my job search over Thanksgiving. Lucky for me I opened it when I did.

The NY Department of Labor was requesting (read “requiring”) that I attend career training. Failure to do so would lead to a loss of unemployment benefits. Though not an idle threat – they docked a friend of mine once – I had never before been summoned. So this morning at 9:00 a.m. I found myself in a desk, in a classroom, in a nondescript office building, in Flushing, Queens.

Let’s wind this back a little, so you can get the full effect. Because all you people who have jobs kind of wish you didn’t sometimes (don’t lie to me, I’ve been there too).

I was the only person on the platform for the outbound 7 train at around 8:30. The inbound platform filled up with commuters. It was kind of weird and depressing to be heading the other direction; the metaphor wasn’t lost on me either.

Downtown Flushing is like downtown Seoul, possibly with more hustle and bustle. But the block where the Department of Labor lives was empty of pedestrians. A few loading dock workers lingered about, and 50 or so people had lined up at the entrance. I flashed to those pictures of breadlines during The Great Depression, obviously an overreaction. But it turned out the Social Security Administration is right next door and everyone was going there.

Inside the Department of Labor office looks like government offices often do – fluorescent lights, drop ceilings, sterile floors, metal and plastic furniture. People waited in rows of chairs for their turn at the counter. Guards sat at foldout tables watching over things. Beyond the counter, cubicles abounded.

I was directed down the hall to room 2, where I filled out a simple form asking my employment preferences. I gave that to the service rep along with my resume and the longer form mailed to me previously and waited for the festivities to start.

As I sat there, slides in a loop projected job search tips on the front wall. The classroom filled up with other unemployed people. There was a wide range of ethnicities, this being New York City (and Queens, in particular). Ages seemed to range from recent high school graduate to senior citizen, class from working to middle. Some were on edge, like the single mother of three next to me recently laid off from a bank. Some were bored, like the young woman in the corner who slept through it all. On the whole, everyone seemed pretty average, pretty normal.

At 9:15, a service rep who looked like a humorless and younger Mel Brooks handed out a packet of job search materials. Pages in the packet – blurry, misaligned and stapled in the wrong corner – outlined the following:

• Job search websites
• Basic skills workshops (resume writing, intro to computers, how to look for a job)
• NYJobZone.org (career management website)
• Tips for re-entering the workforce
• Workforce 1 career center locations (a city government initiative, I suspect)

Then Mel turned off the lights and reviewed the materials using another Powerpoint projected on the front wall. He recommended that we visit NYCareerZone.com and pick up a copy of What Color Is Your Parachute? He also harped on WinWay Resume Deluxe as better than Word for creating a resume (really?… really?). The internet connection was really slow, which made the presentation drag. And the other service rep conducted individual conversations in his regular talking voice, making it difficult to hear.

By 9:50 – 35 minutes later – I was on my way back to the train, having preserved my unemployment benefits but learned nothing. The info was probably useful to some people there. And a young, black, female war veteran spoke highly of indeed.com and simplyhired.com, which I will give another chance at some point. Either one of those could lead to something, I suppose. And I did learn that NY’s Unemployment Office has 130 people to handle up to 160,000 calls per week (no wonder no one can get through).

The problem is that the seminar has to teach to the inexperienced on a basic level. And I just have too much experience looking for work – for better or worse. I don’t mean to suggest that I’m good at it; given my track record for layoffs, I should be better. I just do it a lot. I’d much rather just be working.