FYI: Only 44 percent of out of work New Yorkers actually collected unemployment insurance in 2002, according to a new Brennan Center for Justice report. Moreover, low-income workers and people of color were the least likely to get the benefit. The Center surveyed 2,500 people who were out of work at some point in 2001 and 2002, and found 88 percent of people making more than $22 an hour collected UI, while only 38 percent of those who made less than $8 an hour did. And while nearly 75 percent of white workers collected their benefit, only 43 percent of Latinos and 55 percent of blacks did. Advocates have long complained that UI is biased against low-wage workers and temporary laborers, discouraging many from applying in the first place. But the report also shows that a third of the statewide applicants who were denied were turned away because they did not make enough to qualify. [8/27/03]