Jobless Americans to lose unemployment benefits

Nearly half of them live in California, and the rest reside in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Colorado, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Texas.

 

The federal extended benefits program has provided the jobless with up to 20 weeks of unemployment checks after they've run through their state and their federal emergency benefits, which together last up to 79 weeks.

But the extended benefits program is expiring throughout the country as the economy improves. To be eligible for these benefits, a state must show that its unemployment rate is at least 10 percent higher than it was in at least one of the past three years.

 

State unemployment rates have been falling as the jobless find new positions or exit the workforce. For instance, Nevada has the highest state unemployment rate at 12 percent, but it's still below the 14 percent it logged in October 2010.

 

Already, 25 states have rolled off the extended benefits program, with 15 of them exiting last month alone. But more unemployed folks will be affected by this week's cessation than April's, when about 135,000 people saw their payments end.

 

By the beginning of September, the benefits will disappear in another seven states, leaving Alaska as the sole place to offer it.

 

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