83,000 Pennsylvanians on brink of losing jobless benefits

Thousands of Pennsylvania residents will lose their unemployment benefits in December unless Congress extends emergency funding for the financial support program.Without action from the House and Senate, the benefit window will shrink from 99 to 26 weeks.Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Labor and Industry Sandi Vito said,  because of that, 83,000 Pennsylvanians will lose their benefits. That figure will grow to 355,000 by April.”We are telling claimants that they should continue to file their biweekly claims,” she said. “Because, in the past, Congress has acted after the renewal — or the timeline for the extensions has run out.”Another extension would add about $65 billion to the deficit, but supporters say the cost of helping people through the sputtering economy is worth it.The average unemployment check is a bit more than $300. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is just below 9 percent, a bit less than a point below the national average.