Approval of additional unemployment benefits from Congress will immediately help dislocated workers in Rock County. “It’s our understanding that the benefits will be extended for those that were reaching the limit,” says Bob Borremans, Director of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board. “There were 1500 people in Rock County that would have been noticed within the last couple of weeks, that they would be losing those benefits. And so there is an immediate benefit on approximately 1500 folks.” Many of the 1500 people affected lost their jobs through the recession. Borremans says many former General Motors workers have transferred to other plants.
Earlier this week, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development named Beloit as the city with the highest unemployment rate in the state. According to DWD, Wisconsin has over 66,000 individuals whose payments ended as a result of the earlier expiration of the programs. It will take several days to make payment to those individuals.
Beth Wheelock, WCLO
