The automatic federal budget cuts known as “Sequestration” will soon hit the long-term unemployed in New Hampshire. People who remain jobless for more than 26 weeks are eligible for federally-funded emergency unemployment benefits.
And those benefits will soon be cut.
In New Hampshire, the average payment under this program is $289 a week. And for the 1,800 people already on emergency unemployment, that won’t change. But Employment Security Commissioner George Copadis says anyone applying after the 28th of this month will see a 17 percent cut.
“Cuts like this, I mean, are awfully difficult to take. If this is your only means of being able to support yourself, obviously if you’re experiencing a 17 percent cut, that’s significant,” Copadis says.
For someone getting that $289 payment, the cut works out to getting about $50 less each week.
Copadis says the department commonly gets up to 180 new claims a week.
