Unemployment benefits for Georgia's workers could be cut as soon as the end of March because of spending reductions that will be implemented as a part of sequestration cuts.
Officials within the Georgia Department of Labor say that the federal government has directed Georgia to reduce extended unemployment compensation by 10.7 percent, with an expected start date for the cuts of March 31. Based on the most recent data reported by the labor department, there are 61,360 jobless people receiving these benefits in Georgia.
Extended unemployment benefits are for those individuals who have been out of work for longer than 26 weeks. For those individuals, the maximum collectible amount each week would drop from $330 to $295.
Nationally, the number of individuals that are expected to impacted by this change could top two million. The Georgia Department of Labor is notifying people that are impacted beginning this week.
The mandatory sequestration cuts took effect March 1. As of now, Georgia's overall unemployment rate sits at 8.6 percent.
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