Here is a graph from the Atlanta Fed of the number of people receiving extended unemployment benefits ... Note: data as of Aug 7th - there were about 300,000 less people receiving benefits on Aug 14th (most recent data NSA).



Click on graph for larger image.



From the Atlanta Fed:

The number of persons receiving extended benefits has shot up in the weeks following the reinstatement of the emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) program.



Note: As people exhaust their regular benefits, they move on to receive extended benefits first through the federal EUC program and then their state’s extended benefits (EB) program.



• The number of persons receiving emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) has increased by nearly 1.6 million in the three weeks since the program was reinstated on July 22, 2010. For the week ending August 7, the number of claimants reached 4.9 million.



• Extended benefits (EB) claimants increased by more than 300,000 (or 50%) during the same period. There were 937,000 people claiming extended benefits for the week ending August 7.



• Currently, up to 73 weeks of benefits extensions are available including both the EUC and EB programs (53 weeks of EUC and 20 weeks of EB).

That is an increase of almost 2 million people receiving aid since the program was reinstated.There are another 4.1 million people receiving regular unemployment benefits (NSA). So the total is close to 10 million (NSA).