One economist says the end of jobless benefits for thousands of Michiganders should not have a big effect on the number of jobs being filled.
More than 180 thousand people in Michigan will see their unemployment benefits expire between now and April, unless Congress agrees to grant another extension.
Kenneth Goldstein is with the Conference Board, a business research group. He says there are few real new job options, either full or part time for the ‘hard-core’ unemployed.
"The only thing that happened is the number of people on that line to sell shoes, deliver a pizza, to wait on a table...deliver packages...that line just got longer," says Goldstein, "The number of jobs didn’t get larger. The number of people looking for one of those jobs got longer."
Michigan’s statewide jobless rate is just under 13 percent.
