More than 100,000 Wisconsin residents may lose their unemployment benefits in the upcoming months unless the Senate decides to extend unemployment programs.
A group of four democratic state legislators sent a letter Friday to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, urging Congress to consider extending Wisconsin’s federal unemployment benefits until the end of the year.
Kellie Flury, spokesperson for Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, said the lawmakers sent the letter because the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development has been notifying people that their benefits will be expiring in the upcoming months.
“The Legislature in the state of Wisconsin has been doing a lot to get the economy back on track and help businesses create new good paying jobs, but the job market still has a ways to go to rebound to the point where we need it to,” Flury said.
According to John Dipko, spokesperson for the DWD, they sent out approximately 8,000 letters Tuesday, informing residents their benefits will be expiring in the upcoming months. They will continue to send out letters in the weeks ahead.
Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is presently 8.7 percent, which is below the national average, but higher than the unemployment rate at this same time last year. Milwaukee County executive Scott Walker estimated in his state of the economy address that Wisconsin lost about 163,000 jobs in the last year.
Dipko estimates about 250,000 Wisconsin residents are currently on unemployment, and around 100,000 will be losing these benefits when the federal programs they are on end in the next few months.
Dipko said 26 weeks is the usual limit to receive unemployment benefits, but because of the recession there have been a series of extensions to the point that the current limit is now 93 weeks, varying by an individual’s circumstances.
“This has been the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, and so we’ve made it our highest priority to make sure unemployed workers get the benefits they’re entitled to,” Dipko said.
If the Senate decides to extend the benefits, the money would be coming from federal funds and would not affect Wisconsin’s budget, Dipko added.
According to Dipko, the letters the DWD has been sending inform residents of the balance on payments they have left, as well as information on different options they may pursue, including different job assistance and welfare programs like BadgerCare, Foodshare and local emergency assistance.
Mitch, a UW law instructor, said extending benefits like this is a common occurrence, however he does not remember the benefits ever being extended this many times in the past.
The purpose of unemployment benefits is to provide a sense of security to people who have lost their jobs and are actively seeking employment, Mitch added.
“It’s a safety net, so if the safety net is gone, what will happen to people? One’s imagination starts to be filled with some pretty grim realities,” Mitch said.
