For Immediate Release: Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Karen Conner, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

It’s too early to cut back on unemployment benefits

Congress is debating whether to renew legislation that previously extended unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployed for up to 99 weeks (providing 73 weeks of federal benefits beyond the regular 26 weeks of state-financed benefits in most states). Today’s Snapshot shows that there has been so little improvement in job-finding prospects for unemployed workers that it is much too early to begin cutting back on how long unemployed workers can receive benefits.