LANSING – Saying that Michigan's working families deserve support while the state recovers from tough economic times, State Representative Mary Valentine (D-Norton Shores) today urged the U.S. Congress to extend federal unemployment benefits for workers who have lost their jobs in Michigan's struggling economy.
"Many of Michigan's displaced workers have already exhausted their unemployment benefits and are barely making ends meet," Valentine said. "These people need to provide food for their families, put gas in their cars and pay the mortgage. Unemployment benefits are critical to the livelihood of many of our displaced workers. Michigan struggles with the highest unemployment rate in the country and we all need to come together to support our neighbors who have fallen on hard times."
The U.S. Congress is considering legislation that calls for unemployment benefits to be extended by up to 20 weeks in most states. States with high unemployment rates – including Michigan – would see unemployment benefits extended an additional 13 weeks. Michigan residents currently get up to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. The plan in Congress could provide unemployment relief for Michigan workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own for up to 59 weeks.
A resolution was introduced in the Michigan House on Tuesday urging Congress to approve the federal extension. The resolution was adopted on a vote of 106 to 0.
With jobs hard to come by, the unemployment rate in Michigan has been hovering around 7 percent for months. Over the past year, 156,000 Michigan residents have exhausted their unemployment benefits and another 72,000 are expected to exhaust theirs in the first half of this year, according to a June 7 article in The Detroit News.
"It is important that we fight to create good-paying jobs now so that our economy can progress," Valentine said. "We can't abandon our workers who have lost their jobs to outsourcing or downsizing. The federal government needs to lend a hand during these tough times and I urge my colleagues in Congress to pass this plan immediately."