Topeka ? The Kansas Employment Security Advisory Council was meeting Thursday to discuss the financial stability of the state’s unemployment trust fund.

The Department of Labor expects the fund to run out of money to pay jobless benefits by the end of the year.

The fund has dwindled from $566 million at the start of 2009 to less than $335 million last week. Without any changes, the department says the fund would have a deficit of $292 million by next March.

Council members were expected Thursday to discuss whether to raise the rate paid by employers to keep the fund solvent. Labor officials have said they tapped federal stimulus dollars to help maintain a positive balance in the fund.