Tagged: Jobless Benefits

Up to 60,000 people in Washington will lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the month. That’s because a federal  program, called Emergency Unemployment Compensation, is set to expire.

The federal government has often been on the verge of cutting off extended unemployment benefits only to renew them at the last minute.  Since the recession hit, the U.S. Congress has voted 10 times to continue the extended benefits program.

Recently, Washington's Employment Security Department sent out a news release announcing it had identified 9,000 people in 2010 who were not actively seeking work. The state said the individuals would have to pay back $23 million in benefits.

But those claims of jobless benefit fraud may be overstated.

Nearly 100,000 people in Washington will get letters this week, letting them know how soon their unemployment benefits will run out.  Emergency assistance for the long-term jobless has expired.  

A massive computer programming project is putting a slight delay on some unemployment checks in Washington.