REGION Ohio's advice to jobless: Keep filing for benefit extension

More than 1,200 Mahoning Valley residents have been hit so far by the cutoff of federal jobless benefits.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- State officials are advising jobless Ohioans to continue filing claims for federal unemployment benefit extensions, even though Congress hasn't established a funding source to pay for them.
Tom Hayes, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said the state wants to be ready to pay out the benefits as quickly as possible, if and when Congress decides to fund the benefit extension retroactively.
More than 1,200 Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana county residents are among the 800,000 unemployed workers nationwide whose federal unemployment checks were terminated Saturday.
In Pennsylvania, 270 Mercer County residents and 265 Lawrence County residents lost their extended benefits.
The federal benefits kicked in when their regular unemployment compensation benefits expired under an emergency program established in March. Regular benefits come from the state and are funded by employer taxes.
Carmen Stewart, an ODJFS spokeswoman, said Mahoning County was hardest hit, with 576 people losing benefits. In Trumbull County 456 unemployed individuals were affected, and 249 lost benefits in Columbiana.
Statewide, more than 130,000 workers have received a combined $301 million in extended benefits since the program was established in March.
Stewart could not provide statistics on how many more jobless workers in the Mahoning Valley will qualify for the federal program in the weeks to come. The Associated Press has reported that an additional 95,000 individuals are expected to exhaust their benefits each week, nationwide.
Qualifying criteria
To qualify for the federal Temporary Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program, claimants must meet the following criteria:
UBe unemployed through no fault of their own.
UHave exhausted their regular unemployment insurance benefits.
UHave had a claim with a benefit year ending date of March 15, 2001, or later.
UAre not eligible to qualify for a new Ohio Unemployment Claim.
UMeet basic state eligibility requirements such as being ready, willing and able to work.
Congress closed its books for the year without approving a funding package to pay for the 13-week benefit extension.
Lawmakers failed to act on two competing bills: a $5 billion plan from the Democrat-controlled Senate that would have extended benefits 13 weeks for people now receiving them or who were newly eligible, and a $900 million plan from the Republican-led House for five extra weeks for workers in a few states with high unemployment rates.
Gov. Bob Taft has joined President Bush in calling for Congress to continue the federal extension program.
vinarsky@vindy.com