Unemployment Benefits in Jeopardy

Published Feb. 26, 2010 at 8:56 p.m.

(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau) -- Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond is urging Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chamblis to quickly support an extension of federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation and federal funding for state extended benefits.

He says come Monday morning, some 8000 Georgians will be without those benefits for failure of the Senate to act.

"Unless the budget stalemate is addressed, then I'm concerned we'll have so many hardworking Georgians who can't find work, are unable to support themselves, and now are unable to draw their extended benefits," Thurmond tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

He says the soonest the Senate could vote is Monday.

Currently the state's unemployment rate stands at 10.3 percent with close to 200,000 Georgians receiving federal emergency benefits.

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