FEWER WEEKS: Under a compromise for extending a Social Security tax cut, federal unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work more than six months are being scaled back.
CASHING OUT: The plan extends the current 99-week maximum through May for states with the highest unemployment rates. Benefits drop to 79 weeks in June and to 73 weeks in September. Unless Congress extends benefits again, people losing their jobs after July 1 will get only 26 weeks.
THE IMPACT: About 43 percent of the nation's nearly 13 million unemployed have been without work for more than six months.
2 comments