California | Long-term unemployed get reprieve | The Orange County Register

Long-term unemployment benefits in California should remain at 99 weeks in California until June, according to an Employment Development Department analysis of the payroll tax and jobless bill signed by President Barack Obama Thursday.

Initial descriptions of the legislation suggested long-term benefits would be cut to 73 weeks under a compromise approved by Congress earlier this month.

However, after consulting with the U.S. Labor Department, a reduction to 73 weeks appears to be a worst case scenario that isn’t likely to happen in California until at least September, Loree Levy, an EDD spokeswoman, said today.

“It stays the same to the end of May — 99 weeks,” she said.

As with all things government, however, there is a caveat. And it’s so complicated it would challenge Rube Goldberg, the 20th century cartoonist who used to draw convoluted machines to do simple tasks….

via Long-term unemployed get reprieve | long, term, california – The Orange County Register.