'Pray jobs back when extension ends'

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Heather Kraai, her husband and two children -- an eight-month-old and a 3-year-old -- have been living with Grandma and Grandpa for nearly two years. Neither she nor her husband have jobs.

Heather was a purchasing agent who was laid off, and her husband's back injury cost him his job as an insulator. They've been looking for what for what seems like forever.

So when their unemployment benefits were not extended, they weren't sure what was next.

Though the US Senate voted 60-40 to restore unemployment benefits to millions who have been out of work more than six months, it only gives the Kraai family -- and thousands like them -- more time to figure out their next step.

"We just need more time," she told 24 Hour News 8. "There's not enough jobs out there."

Her $740 unemployment check every two weeks ran out about two weeks ago. Since then it's been more stressful than ever.

"It's rough, it's rough to worry about how are we going to afford diaper, afford to pay the phone bill, put gas in the van to look for jobs," she said.

In statistics from the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, almost 61,000 people in West Michigan were on the verge of losing their benefits before the end of the year:

• Kent: 17,560
• Ottawa: 9,432
• Kalamazoo: 5,825
• Muskegon: 7,817
• Montcalm: 2,542
• Allegan: 4,141
• Barry: 2,017
• Calhoun: 4,015
• Ionia: 2,042

They now may be breathing a sigh of relief.

"We can sit back and say, OK, we can budget this money. It's livable," she said. "We can manage this and hope and pray that the jobs come back by the time the extension runs out."

If your benefits are through a federal extension, keeping calling MARVIN on your appointed days and your coverage should be seamless.

If your benefits are through the state, you might see more of a delay. The state plans to send out personal instructions to each unemployed worker through the mail, and those instructions should go out within 36 hours after President Obama signs the extension.

Retroactive payments will probably take even more time, maybe two weeks, as federal and state officials try to figure out who is eligible for those payments. Once they do, those payments will be given out in a lump sum.

"We just keep on keeping on," Kraai said. "I think the economy will come back, but it's just going to take some time. It didn't happen overnight, and it's not going to come back overnight."

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