Local Residents Losing Unemployment Benefits
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JACKSON, Tenn- More than a million U.S. citizens will lose their unemployment benefits on Saturday; and for some local residents the loss is hitting close to home. Sharon Sewell receives unemployment benefits but after Saturday that will all change. “It’s difficult to adjust, especially for middle-aged people like myself,” Sewell said. Sewell, like more than a million other Americans, will be jobless and without benefits. That’s because Congress failed to extend the recession-era program when it passed a budget deal earlier this month. As a result, 1.3 million Americans will be affected. “It’s very discouraging because people have families they need to take care of,” Sewell said. There are some job-seekers who understand that the program was only temporary. “It’s just life,” Maurice Williams said. “Things start and they stop.” But for people like Sewell, she said she can only hope that more employment opportunities open up so she doesn’t have to depend on benefits.
