Oregon Public Broadcasting

Congress recently renewed a program that extends federal unemployment benefits to people who’ve been out of work for a long time.

But that extension won’t help people who have already collected unemployment for 99 weeks. At that point, their benefits run out. Amelia Templeton reports.

According to the Oregon Employment Department, there are about 14,000 people in the state who have run out of unemployment benefits.

Jose Martinez may soon join them. He is looking for jobs at the Work Source Employment center in Tualatin.

Martinez says he was a construction worker and has been unemployed for about two years. Martinez says he has just one week of unemployment payments left.

Jose Martinez: “And right now, my extension is going to run out. I’m in serious trouble, you know. I’m going to be homeless.”

Craig Spivey is a spokesman for the Oregon employment department. He says the Federal extension does not help people who have run through 99 weeks of benefits. And that’s caused a lot of confusion.

Craig Spivey: “You know when someone hears that the federal government has approved an extension, the natural thought is that means additional benefits are available to them. It didn’t actually add any additional weeks.”    

But Spivey says the extension is still helping a lot of people in Oregon who would otherwise loose a weekly unemployment payment.

Craig Spivey: “We are really in unprecedented times. There have been some deep recessions before. But this one feels a lot tougher because of the sheer number of people who are on unemployment.”

Spivey estimates about 2,000 will reach the 99-week limit in Oregon every month. The Employment Department does what it can to help them continue their job search. Bruce Powers is a manager at Work Source Tualatin.

Bruce Powers: “We actually get a list of individuals who have gone through all of those benefits and we personally call each one of those individuals to say, “Hey we’re here. What can we do to help.””

Powers he sees people from all kinds of professional backgrounds who are still searching for jobs after two years.

Bruce Powers:  “We see everybody from the person who is a cashier to a person who is a high level engineer. It’s just across the board.”

Powers says in this economy, sometimes he has to tell people to lower their expectations. Construction worker Jose Martinez says when he first came to this country he worked in the fields. He might have to do that again. But he’s still looking for a construction job.

Jose Martinez: “The hope is still there. And I want to keep trying. Till I get a good job that can pay for all my kids."

The unemployment rate in Oregon is 10.5 percent.