Unemployment Benefits Being Cut

While Congress has decided to allow the extension of unemployment benefits to continue throughout the year of 2012, there are still thousands of people who will no longer receive the unemployment checks, as they are being cut off for those who have been unemployed on a long-term basis. The New York Times claims that checks for those who have been unemployed long-term will not be stopping. There have been millions of people out of work within the United States, many of whom have been out of work for at least six months already. The benefit extensions were supposed to last for those who were unemployed; at least until the job market started showing signs of improvement.

The program for the extension of benefits was due to expire during the month of February but Congress chose to renew the program. While the program was renewed, legislators cut back on the amount of weeks in which a jobless individual could get the assistance, making it difficult for these unemployed individuals who have been actively seeking work but have been unable to find employment. Ever since this took place, jobless individuals in at least 23 different states within the entire United States have lost several months’ worth of their unemployment benefits. This is not the only bad news, as sometime during the next month, thousands of people are expected to lose their benefits earlier than they expected. Nearly half of a million people will have their benefits cut off earlier on than they expected and these figures do not include the people who have already exhausted the unemployment benefits they were receiving.

Some of the different states are even making it more difficult for people to qualify for unemployment benefits to begin with. In fact, the state of Florida has already decided to cut back on the amount of weeks in which it will pay unemployment benefits, and nearly half of the applicants for unemployment benefits are being denied. With the extension of jobless benefits, there has always been a great debate. Many Republicans argue that it only prolongs unemployment for these individuals and does not help to lower the unemployment rate at all. Democrats tend to disagree, arguing that the vast majority of people who are put out of work simply have no other choice.

The amount of weeks in which an individual can receive unemployment benefits will ultimately depend on the particular state they are living in, as each state has different types of rules when it comes to the amount of weeks in which a person can receive these benefits. This is basically determined by a number of different factors, which includes the current unemployment rate for the state, along with what the unemployment rate was three years prior.