Extended unemployment benefits to end

Extended benefits for the long-term unemployed will be phased out sooner than the end of the year, reported The New York Times.

Though Congress renewed the program of extended benefits that was supposed to expire in February, it also reduced the number of weeks of extended aid and made it more difficult for states to qualify, according to The Times.

Unemployed people in 23 states have lost up to five months of benefits since the renewal, and approximately 70,000 will lose benefits earlier than presumed, said The Times.

According to ABC News, more than 100,000 are expected to lose their jobless benefits this summer.

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From April 7 to May 12, about 370,000 people in 23 states stopped getting benefits, according to the National Employment Law Project. Bloomberg noted that as Americans lose extended benefits, the jobless rate may decline, as some may accept less than ideal jobs and others may drop out of the labor force.

The end of extended benefits may also cause people to limit their spending, slowing economic growth and in turn hiring, according to economists.

For states to remain eligible for the extended unemployment benefits program, "unemployment over any three-month period must average at least 10 percent more than the same period in any of the previous three years," according to Bloomberg.

Republicans have said that extended unemployment benefits discourage people from looking for work, while Democrats have said people still face a lot of difficulty finding jobs in a weak labor market, according to ABC News.

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