Unemployment Checks Will End Soon For Long-Term Jobless [AUDIO]

Federal unemployment checks are stopping for the long-term unemployed.

Starting next month, an additional 70,000 people in six states, including New Jersey will lose their benefits.

From June through August, the Garden State will end extended benefits as required by federal law because the unemployment rate is no longer rising.

"The first immediate impact of this will be that we have individuals who aren't earning money that they could spend in the economy to pay their mortgage, car loans, student loans, etc, now losing one additional source of income" said Patrick O' Keefe, an economic analyst at J.H. Cohn.

O'Keefe says says the cutbacks will lower the unemployment rate, but hurt consumer spending.

"The real loss here is that four years after the recession really came to an end, we have long-term unemployed who still cannot find decent paying jobs."

The other states ending extended unemployment benefits include New York, West Virginia, Nevada, Rhode Island, Idaho and Washington, D.C.

Those cuts will affect about 116,000 people.

"People that are qualified for work are having trouble finding it because of the jobs deficit both here in New Jersey and across the country and that's a big problem for the foreseeable future" said O'Keefe.