Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
Dec 20, (THAINDIAN NEWS) For Kimberly Smith, the fact that U.S. President Barack Obama signed the tax-cut legislation on Friday that would extend the unemployment benefits, has come as a huge relief. The 49-year-old was terminated from her job as a manager in jewelry store more than a year ago following which she continued her studies and became a qualified medical professional. However, despite the added qualification, Kimberly Smith found it rather hard to get a job and as the economy continues to grapple with the crisis, being employed turned out to be a far-fetched dream for her.

The tax-cut legislation that was signed into a law late last week by the U.S. President, would indeed be an important tool for people who have remained unemployed for more than 26 weeks but less than 99 weeks although the benefits that have been extended differ in various states. However, the bill gives a fresh lease of life to the federal emergency unemployment program that reached its expiry date last month while making it valid till the end of next year. According to the available data, at the moment there are an estimated 300,000 people in the state of Washington who would be able to reap the benefits of the tax-cut legislation given the fact that they have approved claims.

However, unemployed people across the nation would not be able to get the same benefits with five states likely to provide lesser amount of benefits to jobless residents in comparison to the rest of the nation. The main reason for this is owing to the fact that the unemployment rate in these states are gradually decreasing and so the unemployed people in these states cannot receive the same benefits as their nationwide peers.