Some­thing is com­ing along the hori­zon that could put a fur­ther drag on the econ­omy. U.S. unem­ploy­ment insur­ance ben­e­fits are begin­ning to run out on those who were laid off early in the reces­sion. Many peo­ple receiv­ing job­less ben­e­fits have been look­ing for jobs, but have been unable to find any. State and fed­eral gov­ern­ments are con­sid­er­ing extend­ing job­less ben­e­fits due to the poor economy.

From the http://www.ajc.com writer Michael E. Kanell gives us more on job­less ben­e­fits dry­ing up.

Advo­cates have called for Con­gress to pass another exten­sion, an idea that has some bipar­ti­san sup­port. Sev­eral bills to extend the ben­e­fits were intro­duced just before Con­gress took its August recess.

More than 6 mil­lion Amer­i­cans are receiv­ing unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits, although there are about 15 mil­lion offi­cially job­less. In Geor­gia, only about 60 per­cent of the half-million job­less receive ben­e­fits. Oth­ers were not eli­gi­ble because they quit or were fired, because they have stopped look­ing for work or were self-employed. Some already exhausted their benefits.

Unem­ploy­ment checks are cal­cu­lated from the worker’s for­mer earn­ings, with a cap of $330 a week. A $25-a-week boost was added by this year’s fed­eral stim­u­lus package.

As more of the unem­ployed reach the end of their checks, “I think we will see more fore­clo­sures, more descent into poverty,” said Heidi Shier­holz, senior econ­o­mist for the Eco­nomic Pol­icy Institute.

The end of ben­e­fits also removes a stream of spend­ing that aids the econ­omy, she said.

“The money goes to peo­ple who are the most cash-strapped. These peo­ple have no choice but to go out and spend that money.”

The fed­eral exten­sion injects nearly $1 bil­lion a week into the econ­omy, accord­ing to a report by the National Employ­ment Law Project.

In Geor­gia, 13,844 peo­ple will lose their federally-funded ben­e­fits dur­ing Sep­tem­ber, accord­ing to the NELP report. By the end of the year, 58,887 Geor­gians and 1.33 mil­lion Amer­i­cans will have reached that destination.

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