With the nation's unemployment rate jumping a whopping half percentage point to 5.4 percent from September to October, more and more workers are looking to Unemployment Insurance to get them through what will probably be a bumpy economy in the months ahead.

In Michigan, things are no different - the jobless rate is up to 5.3 percent, and prospects for a quick recovery are shaky. Unemployment insurance isn't much - but it's something, and it's still a safety net for jobless workers.

As we've been reporting, jobless insurance could provide a better safety net. In 1995, the Engler Administration and the Republican-led Michigan House and Senate froze statewide jobless benefits at a maximum of $300 per week, without any allowance for inflation. If that bill had not been passed into law, jobless benefits would stand at $414.39 per week - a difference of $2,974.14 for workers who are unemployed for the full 26-week benefit period.

In addition, Engler and the state lawmakers cut the weekly benefit rate from 70 percent of after-tax earnings to 67 percent. And, the state Republicans made it more difficult for low-income people to qualify for benefits, changing the minimum weekly earnings requirement from 20 times the state minimum wage to 30 times.

House Bill 4188, a measure sponsored by Davison Democrat Rose Bogardus, would restore the cuts made in 1995. It is currently stuck in the House Employment Relations and Training Committee, and has little hope of being moved with Republicans continuing to control power in Lansing.

In a statement last month to the House Democratic Task Force on labor issues, the Michigan State AFL-CIO noted that back in the early 1980s, Michigan's unemployment rate hovered at about 17 percent. Studies comparing the level of Michigan's benefits with neighboring states usually excluded Indiana, because the Hoosier state's were so low that they distorted the results.

"Times have changed," the state AFL-CIO said. On July 1, Indiana raised its maximum employment benefit to $312 per week. "That exceeded Michigan's maximum benefit of only $300 a week," said the Michigan AFL-CIO, "leaving us lowest among the Midwest states for maximum UI benefits."

It's a distinction we can live without.

For more information on contacting your state representative or state senator, check out the Michigan AFL-CIO website, www.miaflcio.org.