For the unemployed, no reprieve on budget cuts

Starting this week, many in California collecting federal unemployment benefits will get about 17.7% less than they got last week, thanks to Washington's across-the-board budget cuts. Those cuts -- the so-called sequester -- require that states pay out less on federal extensions of benefits, and the reduction is retroactive to March 1, when the sequester went into effect.

Federally extended benefits, which may last for up to 47 weeks, kick in after a jobless worker has exhausted state unemployment benefits, which last up to 26 weeks.
Nationwide, the cuts will affect an estimated 3.8 million people through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

Just how much a recipient's benefits will be cut depends on how quickly a state implements the change. "In the best case scenario, where the states implemented the cuts right away, the average worker will receive about $31 less each week (10.7% less) in benefits from her $294 weekly check," said Judith Conti, the federal advocacy coordinator for the National Employment Law Project, in recent testimony before a House Ways and Means subcommittee. Read more >>