BOSTON – Job-seekers in Massachusetts will be eligible for up to 39 weeks of unemployment benefits, nine weeks more than the state normally provides, under a temporary extension announced yesterday by Gov. Deval L. Patrick.

His action follows the Monday signing by President George W. Bush of a $162 billion supplemental spending package, which had cleared Congress last Thursday, that includes federal funds to support the expansion of unemployment benefits nationwide from 26 weeks to 39. (The measure – the U.S. Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, 2008 H.R. 2642 – also allots money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the expansion of veteran’s benefits.)

Massachusetts normally provides unemployment benefits for 30 weeks – the longest period in the nation. Under the new measure, the federal government will pick up the tab for benefits beyond the first 26 weeks for those eligible.

“I am very pleased that Congress successfully fought to pass this important extension of unemployment benefits for those individuals looking for work in these uneasy economic times,” state Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Suzanne M. Bump said in a statement on mass.gov.

“While our state is fortunate that the unemployment rate in Massachusetts continues to be lower than the national rate” – the Bay State’s jobless rate surged to 4.9 percent in June, well below last month’s U.S. unemployment rate of 5.5 percent – “and we have continued to add jobs this year, these extended benefits are critically important to those families that have been struggling to find work for so long in this economy,” Bump said.

Although eligibility rules are slightly different under the Extended Benefits program, more than 95 percent of those already receiving jobless benefits in Massachusetts are expected to be eligible, Bump’s office said. Some workers who had exhausted their regular benefits in the past year, and are still actively seeking work, may also be eligible under the extension.

The benefits extension in Massachusetts begins next week and is slated to run through the end of March. The Mass. Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Division of Unemployment Assistance will begin notifying potential claimants after the program begins on Monday.

Similar notices will be going out to job-seekers in Rhode Island, where workers also will become eligible for extended benefits starting Monday under a state program announced last week by the R.I. Department of Labor and Training. (READ MORE)