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Media contact: Jamie Swift, communications manager, 360-902-0904

OLYMPIA – About 150,000 jobless workers in Washington will take a pay cut next week with the expiration of a federal stimulus program that added $25 to weekly benefit checks.

The $25 increase was authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The program expires Saturday, Dec. 11.

Since May 2009, nearly 400,000 jobless workers in Washington have collected more than $500 million from this additional benefit, which was not offered on new claims that were opened after May 2010.

“When your check is only two or three hundred dollars a week, $25 is significant,” said Employment Security Commissioner Paul Trause. “The federal stimulus benefits have not only enhanced unemployment lifeline for our jobless workers, but also pumped money into local businesses.”

Washington’s average weekly benefit is about $370, while the minimum weekly check is $135.

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Employment Security Web site: www.esd.wa.gov

Broadcast version

About one-hundred- fifty-thousand jobless workers will take a pay cut next week with the expiration of a federal stimulus program that added twenty-five dollars to weekly benefit checks.

The stimulus increase was authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The program expires on December eleventh. 

Since May 2009, nearly four-hundred-thousand people in Washington have collected more than a half-billion dollars from the federal stimulus benefit. 

Washington’s average weekly unemployment benefit is about three-hundred-seventy dollars, while the minimum is one-hundred-thirty-five dollars.

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