Benefits of about 61,000 in La. could be curtailed

The failure by Congress to extend an emergency jobless benefits package could affect up to 61,000 unemployed Louisiana residents, a state official says. Who loses benefits and when depends upon several factors, including whether a jobless resident is already on the federal emergency program or still receiving initial benefits from the state program, says Jay Augustine, deputy executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission. Currently, an unemployed worker in Louisiana is first eligible for 26 weeks of benefits under a state-administrated program. After that, Augustine says, if still jobless and actively seeking work, the unemployed has recourse to three tiers of benefits in the federal program: 20 weeks, 14 weeks and 13 weeks, up to a total of 73 weeks. After 73 weeks, all benefits end in the state. Augustine says 34,000 jobless Louisiana residents are on the state program, while 27,000 are on some level of the federal program. Those on the state program won’t be able to move to the federal program unless Congress acts. Those on each tier of the federal program will be able to exhaust their current benefits, but won’t be able to move to the next level, Augustine says. As in other states, post-economic-meltdown job growth in Louisiana hasn’t come anywhere close to providing enough new unemployment. Between October 2009 and October, the state recorded a net gain of 19,200 jobs, the Workforce Commission reported. LSU economist Loren Scott says the short-term effect of a cutoff would be to reduce personal consumption spending.