Hundreds in U.P. to lose unemployment insurance

More than 43,000 Michiganders are set to lose their unemployment insurance coverage. Michigan U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow say that close to 1,300 of those affected reside in the Upper Peninsula.

Congress still has the opportunity to extend the federal Emergency Unemployment Compesation program, but time is running out, with the deadline set for December 28th.

An additional 86,000 will lose their coverage in the first six months of 2014 if future extensions continue to be blocked. Federal unemployment insurance took effect in 2008 and has been reauthorized several times since as Americans continue to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Despite the real progress the economy has made since its near-collapse in 2008, there are still 1.3 million fewer jobs than there were before the recession began. Failure to extend federal unemployment insurance program would also hurt job growth throughout the nation, costing the economy an estimated 240,000 jobs, according to the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

The CEA estimates that in Michigan alone, failing to extend the program will cost 8,450 jobs.

Stabenow’s and Levin’s offices have released a county-by-county breakdown of how many residents are expected to lose their unemployment insurance coverage. The numbers are as follows:

Marquette County: 287

Chippewa County: 204

Mackinac County: 161

Houghton County: 161

Delta County: 154

Dickinson County: 81

Menominee County: 55

Gogebic County: 49

Iron County: 48

Ontonagon County: 45

Baraga County: 38

Schoolcraft County: 38

Alger County: 33

Luce County: 22

Keweenaw County: 9