Pasadena, CA -- (SBWire) -- 07/02/2010 -- About 87,000 people in Michigan are going to stop receiving their unemployment checks of around $300 by July 3. These people have been unemployed for over 26 weeks and Republicans in Congress are refusing to extend the unemployment benefits because of concerns over the fiscal deficit.

Michigan's unemployment rate of 13.6 percent is already among the country’s highest. Almost 415,000 Michigan residents receive weekly unemployment checks to get by. If the unemployment extension bill is not passed before Congress takes a break on July 4, then by December 350,000 people in Michigan will be out of these unemployment checks.

In other parts of the country, the local media is running reports of families hanging by the thread because of the parents losing their jobs months ago. And now with the checks stopping, these people having nowhere to turn to.

However, there is still hope despite the gloom. Although the Michigan job market looks tough, there are still almost 9,000 jobs available in the state across all sectors, as reported by Hound, a job search engine. “Detroit, Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo are some of bigger job places in the state right now” says Hound CEO, A. Harrison Barnes. Barnes says that his experience has shown him that even in a tough economy, as long as workers are willing to relocate or commute long distances, they are able to find jobs.