JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- Jobless since January, Donald Money has already moved in with his elderly parents, stopped going to the movies and started using less of his prescription medication so it will last longer.
This month, something else will fall by the wayside: Mr. Money's unemployment check. The 43-year-old former printing press operator is among the more than 1.3 million Americans whose unemployment insurance benefits will run out by the end of the year, placing extra strain on an economy that is just starting to recover from the worst downturn in a generation.
These are the most unfortunate of America's 14.5 million jobless: the ones whose benefits are drying up -- in some cases after a record 18 months of government support.
In the past year, nearly 5.5 million people exhausted their 26 weeks of standard benefits without finding work. The government says the "exhaustion rate" is the highest on records dating from 1972.
About 3.4 million people now depend upon extended benefits approved by Congress lasting anywhere from 20 weeks to a year -- the longest period of extensions ever added.
The length of these extensions varies by state, depending on the unemployment rate. More than half of all states have unemployment rates that triggered 53 weeks of extended benefits.
The government does not track how many jobless Americans have exhausted both their standard and extended benefits, but experts estimate the figure to be nearly 100,000.
According to the National Employment Law Project, more than 402,000 Americans will exhaust their unemployment benefits by the end of September. That figure will more than triple by the end of December unless Congress -- or individual states -- authorizes another extension.
Legislation has been introduced to provide an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits in states with high jobless rates; the bill, introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., has 23 co-sponsors, including two Republicans.
Unemployment benefits play an important part in stabilizing the economy because recipients tend to spend their weekly checks, rather than saving the money or paying down debt.
"It's definitely a valuable component of economic stimulus," said Alan Auerbach, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley.
On a recent day in Jacksonville, Mr. Money attended a church-run job fair in a half-vacant shopping mall. He said he'll do anything for a paycheck.
"I'm tired of not working," he sighed.
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