Along with 1.3 million other Americans, 150 Athens County residents lost unemployment benefits when Congress allowed the benefits for many long-term unemployed people across the county to expire last month, a state official said.
As of Dec. 28, Congress allowed those benefits to expire for those who participated in an emergency aid program President Barack Obama referred to as a “vital economic lifeline” in a recent web address.
Without these benefits, he added, job-seekers could fall into poverty.
Jack Frech, director of the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services, said the county’s eight percent unemployment indicates many Athens residents could face a “real hardship.”
As for those who exhausted unemployment compensation in December, Ben Johnson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said “even if the program is reinstated, they have already collected all they are eligible for.”
Johnson added each individual would have to start back at square one to ensure eligibility for the emergency aid program.
“Particularly in an economy like this, it’s very likely (they’ve) already been looking for work,” Frech said. “Losing unemployment compensation may now (make more people) eligible for food stamps.”
Frech added he does not think the lack of unemployment benefits will significantly affect the number of people using food stamps in Athens County.
Hundreds of miles away in Washington, where the Senate reportedly could soon pass a bill to restore benefits, some Republicans in the House of Representatives want more reforms in exchange for reinstatement.
“I would vote to extend benefits, but any agreement must also fix our broken unemployment system,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Columbus, in a statement to The Post. “The long-term unemployed need job training and unemployed workers need more incentives to get back to work sooner.”
The fight of many Democrats, including the president, to get these benefits restored rests largely on a moral argument of helping the less fortunate, with
Obama saying in his address the U.S. is a “better country” than one that would let the benefits expire.
The president and others have also pointed to economic perks of the long-term benefits.
“A report by the Department of Labor and my council of economic advisors estimated that (the expiration) could cost businesses 240,000 jobs,” Obama said in his address. “Last year alone, it lifted 2.5 million people out of poverty and cushioned the blow for many more.”
Frech said the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services offers job training services at The Work Station, child care assistance and a Food Assistance program for families in need.
kf398711@ohiou.edu
@kellypfisher
