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Labor commissioner asks for loan for unemployment benefits
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ATLANTA — State officials will request $70 million in federal loans to sustain Georgia’s dwindling unemployment insurance trust fund or face being unable to pay benefits to 260,000 unemployed Georgians as soon as next week.
Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond an-nounced the plan Thursday, along with new data showing state unemployment at 10.2 percent. He says the state has $25 million left in unemployment funds.
He says the state has paid out $1.6 billion this year in unemployment benefits, compared to $950 million during 2008
Thurmond says the in-balance has come as tax money coming in to replace the fund is eclipsed by
cash payouts being withdrawn.
Georgia joins 25 states already borrowing more than $23.9 billion in federal loans to keep paying the unemployed.
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