The improving national economy is actually bad news for laid-off Atlantic City casino workers as it makes a federal unemployment benefits extension unlikely.
More than 8,000 city workers lost their jobs in 2014—a regional disaster—but unemployment extensions are tied to the U.S. economy as a whole. That’s proved frustrating for the area’s Congressman Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd.
“We have the president touting in speeches how good the economy is in the country, and some of my colleagues are looking at me like they don’t know what I am talking about when I say we need an extension,” LoBiondo told the local Press of Atlantic City. “It’s hard to hear how good the economy is with the conditions in Atlantic City. We want to see the economy up everywhere and people back to work, but we’re left out here without a lot of options.
Data from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development analyzed by the Press shows more than 5,500 workers have filed unemployment claims that are tied to the closings of Atlantic City casinos. Four casinos—Revel, Showboat, Trump Plaza and Atlantic Club—closed last year.
Unemployment benefits are available to workers for 26 weeks. Workers from Revel, Trump Plaza and Showboat—which all closed around September—will see their benefits expire in the next few weeks. The Atlantic Club closed much earlier in January 2014.
