45,000 Mass Residents About To Lose Portion Of Unemployment Benefits
BOSTON (AP) — Tens of thousands of Massachusetts residents who are out of a job and collecting unemployment benefits for more than 26 weeks will see their federal unemployment insurance assistance cut by nearly 13 percent as the automatic federal budget cuts bite deeper into the economy.
The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance announced Saturday that it is notifying residents who receive federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation that their benefits will be cut beginning the week ending May 4.
The Emergency Unemployment Compensation program benefits workers who had exhausted their state benefits.
The cuts will hit about 45,000 Massachusetts residents who currently receive the benefits. Each beneficiary receives $402 a week, but those payments will be trimmed to $351.
The U.S. Department of Labor mandated the cuts under a federal law that requires across-the-board cuts to all discretionary federal programs.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
