For many who have been laid off from their jobs, unemploymentbenefits can keep some sort of income coming in, but it is almostalways not nearly enough.

To help fill in the gap, UNFCU Financial Advisors has formed aunique partnership to make it happen.

Offered by Assura Group of NY Ltd. and underwritten by the GreatAmerican Insurance Group, IncomeAssure replaces 50% of a person'sformer earnings prior to unemployment. Clients can insure between$50,000 to $250,000 of income against the risk of losing a job.

While employed, the coverage generally costs between 0.5% and 2%of a person's annual salary, according to Assura. To be eligible, aperson must be a full-time, on-staff employee, not have beenunemployed within the last two years and must have been with theiremployer for at least six months. There is a two-week waitingperiod to confirm that state benefits have been approved.

UNFCU Financial Advisors, a wholly owned subsidiary of the $3.6billion United Nations Federal Credit Union in Long Island, N.Y.,is a non-exclusive distributor of IncomeAssure, according toAssura.

Several credit unions have already agreed to distributeIncomeAssure but have not started selling the private unemploymentinsurance, said David Ferron, product management director at GreatAmerican Insurance.

“We have just begun to speak to credit unions literally in thelast few weeks,” said Stephen Ryerson, president of UNFCU FinancialAdvisors.

When asked how IncomeAssure can be positioned against creditprotection programs, Ryerson said it can be a complement rather acompeting source.

Antonia Townsend, marketing manager at Assura, said there areseveral situations where IncomeAssure may help including those withlimited nonretirement savings. Single-earner households,particularly those with multiple children, may also benefit, shenoted. Households with significant debt such as a mortgage andthose that are going through a life change, including having achild or starting a business, might be interested in thesupplemental insurance coverage as well.

According to Ferron and Townsend, IncomeAssure coverage may bethe only insurance of its kind available in the United States.Townsend said a similar product is offered in Great Britain. Ferronand Ryerson said other programs are linked to debt cancellation andconsumer loans.

IncomeAssure is available in 46 states plus the District ofColumbia.

Ferron said since the program is still relatively new, thevolume is low and no claims have been filed yet. He did say themajority of people who have gone through the application processhave been accepted.

Townsend said historically, state benefits were intended toprovide 50% of former salary and balance social welfare so that jobseekers could aggressively seek employment.

“Quite frankly, what the state provides doesn't match up,” shenoted.

Depending on where one lives, unemployment benefits may not beenough to pay the bills. Townsend said. Mississippi provides thelowest weekly benefits at a maximum of $235 and Massachusettsprovides the highest at $654.

Indeed, the recession and stagnant economy has led to longerstints of unemployment. Townsend said it takes the averageunemployed person 40 weeks to find a job. With the average personalsavings rate being 4.6% of disposable income and 58.3% of mortgagedelinquencies linked to loss of income, the stress of unemploymentcontinues to pile on. Needless to say, 42% of workers identify jobuncertainty is a pressing issue, she added.

“This is really something on people's minds,” Townsend said.“Between the ages of 18 and 44, you are 180 times more likely tohave a spell of unemployment than to die.”