An article in the Detroit Free Press outlines the impact for Michigan if federal emergency unemployment benefits are not extended. The program is set to expire on December 28th unless Congress takes action. House and Senate Democrats have proposed a one-year, $25 billion extension. In the article, Betsey Stevenson, a Ford School professor and member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, notes that the long-time unemployment rate is 2.6 percent, which is more than double "any other time that we have allowed benefits" to end.
The White House and House Democrats estimate that, without action, 187,000 people in Michigan will lose their benefits by the end of next year. The Emergency Unemployment Compensation program has been in place since 2008, about a year after the recession began.