Unemployment checks end for thousands of people | News

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WZZM) - Thousands of Michigan's unemployed will no longer receive federal benefits.

The government officially ended the Extended Benefits (EB) program Saturday,  because Michigan's unemployment rate dropped below 10 percent on January 28, 2012. 

The change is a result of legislation passed by the Obama Administration last December.

According to state officials, nearly 267,000 workers filed for unemployment last month; about 11 percent of them are losing federal support. Kristy Borgman of Muskegon is one of them.

"I bought my house on June first and lost my job on June fourth," Borgman said.

The 25-year-old  worked as a medical assistant at Apple Family Medicine in Ravenna. Since June, she's been relying on her fiancé, temp work, and an extended weekly benefits check of $243 from the federal government. Saturday, she woke up knowing that check would never come in the mail again.

"It's hard, stressful, wondering how I'm going to pay my bills," she said.

Borgman is one of nearly 26,000 Michigan residents who are considered long-term unemployed --out of work for six months or longer --and the Extended Benefits program was her last chance at any kind of compensation. Now she says she needs to fight even harder to find work; but with unemployment dipping to 9.3 percent, she wonders how many jobs in her field are even left.

"It's going to make it that much harder for people that don't have jobs, I feel, to get a job," she said.

Borgman is not the only one who will likely hurt from losing assistance. The average weekly federal Michigan benefits check is $292.When you multiply that by 26,000 residents, it translates to more than $7 million fewer dollars flowing into Michigan's economy each week.

Borgman is not even thinking about spending right now.
Right now, she'd do anything to get her medical scrubs out of the closet once again.

"I'm going to keep applying for jobs, keep applying and keep applying, the more applications, resumes I have out there, the better chance I have," she said,

Michigan isn't the only state losing the Extended Benefits program; 21 other states are preparing to end the funding by March 24th.