By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
More than 3 million Americans could lose unemployment benefits by the end of July even as the government spends record amounts to compensate the jobless, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
The growing number of unemployed workers without benefits comes as Congress argues whether to again extend jobless benefits.
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The number of people collecting benefits will fall from 10.5 million to 7 million at the end of July if Congress doesn't extend the payments.
About 400,000 Americans are exhausting their benefits every week, saving the government $2 billion since June and an estimated $34 billion through November.
Unemployment insurance has played a bigger role in this recession — the longest since the Great Depression— than in previous downturns, the USA TODAY analysis finds.
This extraordinary response has helped as many as 11 million people at one time — a record — while driving the program's cost to an annual rate of $145 billion in the first quarter. That's more than double what was spent in any previous recession, after adjusting for inflation.
Congress has extended unemployment benefits in every recession since the 1950s. The current extension — up to 99 weeks — far exceeds the previous longest extension of 65 weeks in 1975.
Economist Chris O'Leary of the non-partisan Upjohn Institute for Employment Research says jobless benefits have never been scaled back with unemployment near 10%. "An extension seems appropriate," he says.
Labor expert James Sherk of the conservative Heritage Foundation says a more limited extension is needed.
"Two years is excessive," he says. "If you've gone that long without work, there's a range of other anti-poverty programs available."
Copyright 2010 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
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