More running out of jobless benefits

By Friday, 231,895 laid-off workers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware will have run out of all of their unemployment benefits.

In December, Congress declined to renew federally-funded extra unemployment benefits that kicked in after the state-funded benefits ran out, usually after 26 weeks.

Workers who had been eligible to receive 63 weeks of jobless benefits are now receiving 26. On Feb. 6, a U.S. Senate measure to reauthorize the benefits was defeated by one vote.

Nationally, nearly 2 million workers have lost benefits, including 105,487 in Pennsylvania, 121,143 in New Jersey and 5,265 in Delaware, according to an analysis of U.S. Labor Department data by the National Employment Law Project.

More than 3.6 million, or 35.8 percent, of the nation's 10.2 million unemployed have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. - Jane M. Von Bergen