Unemployment Lifeline Running Out

UPDATED February 5, 2010 As many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits this coming March, according to projections by the National Employment Law Project, a private research group. By June, this number will swell to nearly 5 million unemployed workers nationally who will be left without any jobless benefits.

"Congress must swiftly act to maintain the lifeline for millions of jobless Americans caught in the undertow of record long-term unemployment in this ongoing downturn," said Christine Owens, Executive Director of the National Employment Law Project. "At the end of last year, Congress wisely agreed that our hardest hit workers and our economy were not yet out of the woods, and reauthorized the jobless benefits and health care subsidies from the ARRA. It is critical for Congress to renew these unemployment provisions through the end of the year before its Presidents Day recess for the millions workers again facing the end of the line— and to avoid missing the boat on this timely and effective economic jolt."

After a two-month reauthorization in December (the house added a ARRA reauthorization amendment to the Defence Appropriations bill), the critical benefits provided to jobless workers by the ARRA are set to expire at the end of February. In December, the House passed a $154 billon jobs bill, including an extension of the ARRA unemployment provisions; the Senate has yet to propose a jobs bill.

NELP's state-by-state analysis demonstrates the pressing need for another extension of the ARRA provisions that would fund additional benefits payments under the EUC.

Click here for the status of state by state eligibility for extended benefits.

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