Conn. scrambles on jobless benefits

Connecticut”™s dwindling unemployment rate is threatening benefits for some who receive unemployment compensation, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is giving state agencies two weeks to come up with a plan to help people stripped of any benefits.

“The silver lining here is that jobs are being created in Connecticut,” Malloy said in a statement. “But if you don”™t have a job and are now facing the loss of benefits, you”™re being put in an impossible situation. There are state resources available for both assistance and job training. We need to redouble our efforts to make sure that those resources are going to people who need them most.”

Currently, 26 weeks of state benefits and 47 weeks of Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) are available to those eligible to apply for unemployment benefits. However, as a result of Connecticut’s recently announced 7.7 percent unemployment rate, the state will no longer be eligible to provide seven of the 20 weeks of Extended Benefits (EB).

In 2009, Congress approved federally-funded EUC and EB benefits to assist those struggling to find new employment during the recession. In total, between state and federal benefits, claimants were eligible for up to 99 weeks of unemployment compensation. EUC benefits decreased from 53 weeks to 47 last month, and under federal legislation, all EUC benefits will end in December 2012.

The Connecticut Department of Labor estimates that by that point, there will be 75,000 long-term unemployment insurance claimants that have exhausted all benefits and have not found work.

Earlier this year on 60 Minutes, the Bridgeport-based WorkPlace Inc. brought national attention to the issue.