RALEIGH, N.C.  – So many North Carolina residents are unemployed that the state has borrowed $13 million from the federal government in order to pay their benefits this week.

Employment Security Commission spokesman Larry Parker said Thursday that the money covered two days of payments and that the state may have to borrow again Monday. The state has a $540 million line of credit with the federal government.

The loans are interest-free if repaid by October.

North Carolina last borrowed money for the unemployment insurance trust fund in 2002, when it borrowed 23 times.

In December, the state had an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent, the highest since June 2003. Nearly 397,000 people were unemployed then, although not all receive benefits.