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: 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.
With savings depleted and job opportunities scarce, people who have run out of benefits are living with relatives and borrowing cash from friends. They are even skipping meals. Through it all, they are trying to stay positive through exercise and prayer.
The Labor Department is expected to report today that the August unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, up from 9.4 percent in July.
Many are scrambling to find work before they have to reach for the next layer of government aid — food stamps or welfare.
On a recent day in Jacksonville, Money attended a church-run job fair in a half-vacant shopping mall. Most of the vendors were vocational schools trolling for students; recruiters for the military; and fast-food joints.
Money, who was laid off from a printing business, said he’ll do anything for a paycheck.
“I’m tired of not working,” he sighed. “I just can’t sit at home anymore.”
About 3.4 million people now depend on 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 — and rising.
