Valerie Follett is an expert at making do.

She's worked since she started baby-sitting four days a week at age 12, some 40 years ago. Now, she's raising her 10-year-daughter Aleena as a single mother in a house she owns on the Boise Bench. She manages with a hand-me-down computer without Internet access, can't afford an electrician or repairs to her ailing stove, and drives the same Honda Accord she's had for 20 years.

Things got tougher in September when Follett was laid off, joining about 41,000 out-of-work Idahoans.

Her struggle to get by on $243 in weekly unemployment benefits while looking for work puts a real face on a grim statistic: Idaho unemployment has doubled to 5.4 percent in a year, and the state has endured the largest percentage increase in unemployment of any state.

Unemployment insurance was created as a safety net by the Social Security Act of 1935, when national unemployment was about 20 percent. Today, about half of unemployed Idahoans are collecting weekly benefits, which offer a minimum of $58 and maximum of $364. In Ada County, 28 percent of recipients receive the maximum; in Canyon County, 19 percent get the $364.

Idaho Department of Labor Director Roger Madsen said the checks keep "these skilled workers in Idaho so businesses will have the labor pool they need once this economy begins growing again."

Benefits in Idaho are relatively generous, if adjusted for the fact Idaho is a low-wage state. The average weekly benefit in 2007 was $255, representing 40 percent of the average weekly wage of $634. That puts Idaho seventh among the 50 states.

"The system was designed to tide people over until they can find meaningful work," said Alex LaBeau, president of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry. "It seems to be working to provide a safety net."

Dave Whaley, president of the Idaho AFL-CIO, wishes unemployment benefits were more generous, but said he supports Idaho's scheme, which he helped write in 2004.

Each state administers its own program with varying rules for qualification and benefits under federal guidelines.

But the system has limits. There were 41,000 unemployed in Idaho last month. Last week, about 19,000 collected regular benefits, which are available for between 10 and 26 weeks. Another 3,100 are receiving federally extended benefits for up to 20 weeks.

Some workers are ineligible because of the definition of employer. Some chronically unemployed are left out when benefits expire.

Also, specific categories of employment are excluded, including independent contractors, insurance and real estate agents paid only by commission, workers employed by their parents or children, students employed by their school, and the self-employed, unless they have incorporated. Part-time workers can be eligible if they meet certain thresholds, but they must be willing to take full-time work to collect benefits. Benefits are subject to state and federal income tax, but not Social Security or Medicaid taxes.

Some liberal groups advocate expanding the system, saying it was designed for an economy where most workers were men employed full-time in manufacturing and trade sectors.

For Valerie Follett, the system has worked. Thirteen years ago, she survived a layoff at Hewlett-Packard, ultimately landing a job with Albertsons. But restructuring at Supervalu, which bought Albertsons, cost her her job as a benefits specialist on Sept. 29.

Follett said she feels fortunate to have 12 weeks' severance pay, four months' health insurance and transitional assistance in her job search. She ignores the drone of bad economic news.

"It's hard enough going out and finding a job if you're not upbeat," Follett said. "If you focus on the news, you'd never get out the door. You've got to have the mindset that you're going to find a job."

Follett is looking for jobs commensurate with her three decades in business, including 17 years in California before she came to Idaho in 1992. She has an associate degree in business and accounting and has worked on assembly lines, processed orders, managed documents, compiled research and spent the last seven years in human resources.

Follett frequently visits the Idaho Department of Labor's Job Service center in Boise, using its computers to look for work. She's finding the search tougher than last time.

"There's a lot of people out there who are well-qualified," Follett said. "Where companies were looking at a couple hundred applications, they're now seeing a couple thousand."

For every job opening nationwide, there are nearly three unemployed workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, liberal think tank. The U.S. Department of Labor reported last week that new unemployment claims had reached a 16-year high.

Follett said the prospect of the worst recession since the Great Depression means she may accept a more modest position. "I'll be humble enough to do whatever it takes to get a job."

Follett's sister, Robin Woods, is helping out, preparing some meals for her sister and niece. Woods also volunteers at Foothills Academy, the small private school Aleena has attended since first grade. Follett has increased her own volunteer hours to help compensate for a tuition break from the school, cleaning up and working with students.

Woods fears that patching and scratching may not be enough.

"She'll stick to it until she finds something, but I have more fears this time," Woods said. "It's not even a matter of just taking a $10-an-hour job. It's a matter of finding a $10-an-hour job. I foresee this going on for at least a year. That's hard to comprehend."

On Wednesday, Labor Director Madsen announced a 70 percent increase for 2009 in the unemployment tax paid by employers. The maximum weekly benefit for 2009 will drop 4 percent from a projected $376 a week to $362. Also last week, Congress extended benefits for about 1.2 million workers who were about to be dropped.

Madsen said the tax increase is necessary to stabilize the fund. It also is required by law, under a formula written by business and labor and passed by a unanimous Legislature in 2005.

"The benefits provided idled workers from this fund are critical to the communities they live in and to the economy overall," Madsen said.

Unemployment insurance is not the only tool available. Some, like Follett, get job-search assistance from their former employers. Supervalu hired Right Management Inc. to provide transition consulting. For workers displaced by overseas competition, the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance program pays for up to two years of school. All laid-off Micron workers are eligible, and 260 have signed up.

Vinnie Cariaga, 31, is a Micron worker planning to take advantage of the training benefit, which also allows a worker to collect unemployment benefits.

Cariaga's job on the Micron assembly line will end next month. He was at the Job Service office last week, picking up material to apply for the training benefit. He plans to become a surgical technician.

"There's always going to be a need for health care," Cariaga reasoned. Meanwhile, an unemployment check will help pay bills. "I feel pretty fortunate," he said.

Others were less serene.

Follett tried to help a man in his 50s file his claim, which must be done electronically. After about 30 minutes, he gave up and said he would return later.

"He didn't know how to tab," Follett said. "He didn't know how to backspace. To him this is a complete struggle just even to get his claim on file. He's probably wondering, 'How am I going to get a job?'"

Veterans of the unemployment system say displaced workers need to keep their chins up. Tracy Mosier, 42, said she has a disability that's kept her from holding any job longer than 10 months, but that unemployment checks and her Social Security disability payment keep her afloat.

"I'm looking for work because I want a job," Mosier said. "You have to keep on it. When they say, 'Don't call,' call. Let 'em know you're interested. You need to make your star shine brighter than the other people."

You also need to learn to live with less, said Juan Morales, 26, a landscaper accustomed to seasonal layoffs. Morales said work is drying up early this year. He'll get by on about $270 a week unemployment until spring.

"It pays bills, but we have to live cheap," said Morales, who lives with his girlfriend and their 4-year-old son. "My girl likes going out, but we can't afford that. You can spend a lot more money in a bar than you can with a six-pack at home."

Valerie and Aleena Follett are scaling back, too. Aleena's making cards for 29 names she chose from the family Christmas list. They gave up an Elmer's Restaurant ritual and spend Sunday afternoons at the library.

"Other kids have (Nintendo) DS's, but I have a library card," Aleena said.

Still, Follett donated five bags of canned goods to the Idaho Foodbank, bought Thanksgiving meals for the Boise Rescue Mission and will pick out gifts this weekend for kids served by the Women's and Children's Alliance. She wants Aleena to understand it's important to help the less fortunate.

"We can always think that things are tough, and then you look at others who have it a lot tougher," said Follett, fiercely sustaining her positive attitude. "The way I keep my spirits up is to look at this as a new road, a new journey, a whole new novel, a whole new part of life."

Dan Popkey: 377-6438