ATLANTA — A newspaper has found that a law cutting unemployment benefits for workers in Georgia may save less than projected.

The law trims the period during which a person can get state-financed benefits from 26 weeks to 20 weeks or less. State labor officials told legislators earlier this year the change would save about $160 million the first year.

But The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the savings were calculated using the number of people who have qualified for more than 20 weeks of benefits, rather than the number who actually got them. That number changes each year, but in the past year only about a third of people who qualified for benefits beyond 20 weeks actually collected them.

Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said the agency remains confident in its projections.