Where Things Stand for the Long-Term Unemployed

Friday’s jobs report is expected to show continued sluggish job growth, with unemployment remaining around 8 percent.  Policymakers have never let a federal emergency unemployment insurance (UI) program expire when unemployment was above 7.2 percent, but the current program — through which workers who exhaust their state-funded UI benefits can receive extra weeks of benefits (see map) — is slated to expire in just two months.

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If that program (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) expires, jobless workers will receive no UI benefits beyond what states provide, typically for up to 26 weeks — though several states have cut back in recent years.