Nebraska's very low unemployment rate is an unlucky break for some Nebraskans -- like Jeff Tully.

Tully has been looking for work since he lost his job cutting pipe and aluminum for a Lincoln manufacturing firm almost two years ago.

He used his unemployment benefits -- around $215 a week -- to make truck payments and pay apartment rent. But those payments ran out this spring.

And when he called about the latest federal benefit extension, Tully learned he could not get additional benefits because Nebraska is a Tier 2 state.

But if Tully had lived in Illinois or Missouri or New Mexico, he More >