( CNN ) -- Anyone who has ever been unemployed understands that unemployment insurance is a lifeline for the jobless and their families . But that lifeline is now slipping away for the long-term unemployed , as cuts to federal unemployment extensions enacted by Congress earlier this year gradually take hold . Since February , more than 400,000 workers in 25 states have lost access to the federal Extended Benefits program , which previously provided a final 13 to 20 weeks of unemployment insurance to the longest-term unemployed . Another 70,000 unemployed workers in New York , West Virginia , and Washington , D.C. , are on the chopping block for June . By the time the program is phased out in September , half a million workers in 35 states will have lost these crucial final weeks of unemployment insurance . On top of that , the other federal unemployment extension program -- Emergency Unemployment Compensation , which currently helps 2.6 million Americans with 34 to 53 weeks of benefits â€ ” will be dramatically scaled back beginning in June . The retrenchment in this program will immediately harm workers in 24 states , and will reduce or cut off benefits for hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans over the rest of the year . Most alarmingly , those workers who lose jobs in July and thereafter may end up with no federal help if the program permanently expires at the end of the year as scheduled . These figures do n't even account for the millions of workers who have already run out of all state and federal unemployment insurance and still can not find work . The cuts to unemployment insurance are coming way faster than the rate at which the economy is improving . Newly released employment figures show that the U.S. added only 69,000 jobs in May , and the unemployment rate has risen to 8.2 % from 8.1 % . Jobs remain scarce , with more than three job seekers for every one opening . But what distinguishes this last recession and its slow recovery is the unprecedented level of long-term unemployment . Of our nation 's more than 12.7 million unemployed , more than 5 million -- 42 % -- have been out of work for six months or longer . Nearly one in three have been out of work for more than a year . The average unemployed worker has been out of work for 39.7 weeks , or roughly nine months . Most state unemployment insurance programs cover the first 26 weeks , or six months , of unemployment , normally enough time for the vast majority of unemployed to find new work . But this was no ordinary recession . With long-term unemployment so severe , Congress acted in 2009 to expand the federal unemployment programs , ultimately extending benefits to up to 99 weeks in the states with the highest unemployment rates . Since then , the recession officially came to an end and the fledgling recovery has sputtered along , but long-term unemployment remains a problem that just wo n't go away . Congress and the administration seem hard-pressed to agree to do anything constructive about it , however . As the problem persisted , political scrapping about unemployment insurance has increased , and in February , Congress enacted a plan to dramatically scale back federal unemployment benefits , the consequences of which we are seeing now . We are pulling the rug out from under the unemployed too soon , to the detriment of unemployed workers and their families . Never before has Congress cut back on extended unemployment insurance when the unemployment rate remains so high . Today , less than half of the unemployed in this country are receiving unemployment insurance , and that percentage is decreasing rapidly . That puts more families at risk of falling into homelessness and poverty , and it means that one of the most effective forms of local economic stimulus is n't being used . Opponents of extended unemployment insurance argue that it prolongs joblessness and becomes a disincentive for finding work . It 's a false claim that seizes on unfair stereotypes and stigmas of the unemployed , in the classic vein of blaming and punishing the victim . In fact , research shows that unemployment insurance helps keep jobless workers attached to the labor market so that they 're not dropping out and giving up . And as we know from real life , surviving on the average weekly benefit of $ 300 is hardly a picnic . If the measure of a nation is how it treats its least fortunate , we are looking into the abyss . We need to think hard about whether we are prepared to relegate the long-term unemployed to the status of collateral damage in an economic catastrophe . If we are going to achieve a true recovery , we can not leave the hardest-hit behind . What can our leaders in Washington do ? They need to provide meaningful jobs programs and hiring incentives that target the long-term unemployed . They need to make it unlawful to discriminate against the unemployed in hiring . And they need to make sure , as long as the number of unemployed remains so high , that workers have the minimal income support that unemployment insurance can provide to keep their families going until they find that next job . We are not out of the woods . The recovery has eluded long-term unemployed Americans . For their sake , Congress must not allow what remains of federal unemployment insurance , the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program , to expire at the end of the year . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Christine Owens .
Unemployment insurance is set to end for the long - term unemployed . Mary Owens : Unemployment rate is so high , we can not leave the hardest - working behind . She says if measure of a nation is how it treats its unfortunate , we 're looking into abyss . Owens : Congress ' n't allow what 's left of unemployment insurance to expire .