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Millions of Americans have been forced to rely on unemployment payments for extended periods as the nation struggles through its longest period of high joblessness in a generation, and critics are taking aim, saying that the Depression-era program created as a temporary bridge for laid-off workers is turning into an expensive entitlement.

About 11.4 million out-of-work people now collect unemployment compensation, at a cost of $10 billion a month. Half of them have been receiving payments for more than six months, the usual insurance limit.

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Starting Monday, the jobless will no longer be able to apply for federal unemployment benefits or the COBRA health insurance subsidy.

Federal unemployment benefits kick in after the basic state-funded 26 weeks of coverage expire. During the downturn, Congress has approved up to an additional 73 weeks, which it funds.

These federal benefit weeks are divided into tiers, and the jobless must apply each time they move into a new tier.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — More than 1 million people could lose their jobless benefits and health insurance subsidy in March if Congress doesn’t act fast.

When it returns from the President’s Day recess on Monday, the Senate will have one week to extend the deadlines to apply for federal unemployment benefits and the COBRA health insurance subsidy. Currently, the jobless have until Feb. 28 to sign up.

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Analysts had been expecting good news on the jobs front, forecasting that payrolls would expand.

Instead, both people who have jobs and those who were set to start new positions couldn’t get to work because of the weather. As a result, they’ll file for unemployment benefits.

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Job losses during the recession may have been underestimated by close to a million jobs. So instead of employers cutting just over 7 million jobs from their payrolls since the economic downturn began in December 2007, it’s expected that the Labor Department’s new estimate will be a loss of 8 million jobs.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — UPS announced plans to cut 1,800 jobs as part of a restructuring plan intended to streamline the company’s domestic management structure.

The cuts will eliminate management and administrative positions across the country, UPS (UPS, Fortune 500) said in a statement Friday. Approximately 1,100 employees will be offered voluntary separation packages; other impacted workers will receive severance benefits and access to support programs.

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NEW YORK – Holiday shoppers spent a little more this season, according to data released Monday, giving merchants some reason for cheer.

The spending bounce means retailers managed to avoid a repeat of last year’s disaster even amid tight credit and double-digit unemployment. Profits should be healthier, too, because stores had a year to plan their inventories to match consumer demand and never needed to resort to fire-sale clearances.

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No more stimulus, please, we’re capitalists.

That’s the view, at least, of the majority of economists surveyed in msnbc.com’s year-end roundtable. Though unemployment will remain stubbornly high, and the economic recovery sluggish in 2010, the government doesn’t need to provide another round of stimulus spending to keep the economy afloat, they say.

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NEW YORK (Fortune) — The odds aren’t on its side, but a bonus tax could happen in the United States too.

The United Kingdom this week slapped a 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses above about $40,000. The one-time tax will be paid by all banks with employees in the country. France pledged it would adopt the same policy, while Germany’s chancellor called the idea “charming.”

Still, the bonus tax seems like a long shot on this side of the Atlantic, where bankers wield immense power. But when Wall Street starts handing out giant year-end paychecks at a time of 10% unemployment, all the campaign donations in the world may not keep legislators facing tough re-election fights from turning on their banker chums.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The nation’s tally of 2009 bank casualties hit 130 Friday when regulators shuttered a large Ohio bank, an Illinois bank, a Virginia bank and three small Georgia banks.

The largest bank to fail was AmTrust Bank in Cleveland.

Regulators also closed Benchmark Bank in Aurora, Ill., and Greater Atlantic Bank in Reston, Va.

The Buckhead Community Bank in Atlanta, Ga., First Security National Bank in Norcross, Ga., The Tattnall Bank in Reidsville, Ga., were also closed.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday that it will cut up to 8,000 employees worldwide as part of a cost-savings plan that will allow the health-care giant to expand its business.

The New Brunswick, N.J.-based company, which makes everything from mouthwash to anti-psychotic drugs, said it will cut between 6% and 7% of its global workforce.

The company will also simplify its business structure and remove some layers of management to streamline its operations. As a result, it expects to save between $800 million and $900 million this year, and up to $1.7 billion by 2011.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Getting a job in this economy is tough everywhere, but some local job markets are faring worse than others. And nowhere is it harder to find a job than in Michigan.

Michigan leads the nation in unemployment, with a statewide rate of 15.2%. Joblessness is even higher in cities like Detroit where the local unemployment rate is 17%.

For a long time Neal Garron was one of Michigan’s many unemployed. A husband and father of four, Garron, 40, had worked as an assistant in a recording studio making $9 an hour until he was laid off nearly two years ago.

Garron struggled to find another job and even considered starting his own business. “I thought I would start a small little studio in my house but nothing really came of it,” he said.