Unemployment expiration could leave thousands without benefits

By: Jim Cook | Dothan Eagle
Published: November 23, 2010

Unless Congress extends unemployment benefits by Nov. 30, Alabamians could begin losing unemployment compensation and nearly 58,000 residents could be off the rolls by April.

According to The Associated Press, Congress recently declined to extend benefits. Unless a deal is soon reached, the current program will expire at the end of the month. Nationwide, an estimated 2 million unemployed workers could lose benefits by the end of December without a program renewal.

Tara Hutchinson, an Alabama Department of Industrial Relations spokesperson, said failure to renew benefits would result in unemployed workers finishing out their current tier of benefits and then being cut out of the program.

In Alabama, workers receive an initial state-sponsored 26 weeks of benefits. After that, they receive extra weeks of benefits on a tier system. The first tier is funded by the federal government and gives workers 20 weeks of benefits.

Subsequent tiers are also funded by the federal government. The first provides 20 weeks, the second 14 weeks, the third 13 weeks and the final tier provides six.

According to the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, Alabama unemployed workers on average draw about 15.2 weeks of benefits before finding other work.

In Alabama, 17,732 unemployed workers have exhausted their full 99 weeks of benefits.

The October unemployment report says 189,258 people are unemployed in Alabama. A year ago at this time, nearly 224,000 Alabamians were unemployed.

Unemployment expiration could leave thousands without benefits

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