CEO A. Harrison Barnes of Hound says being jobless does make it harder in finding employment. But retail stores, restaurants, and fast food chains are among the biggest hirers right now according to him.

Pasadena, CA -- (SBWire) -- 11/18/2010 -- If Congress fails to extend unemployment benefits by November 30, 2 million Americans will soon no longer be eligible for them.

But Congress looks unlikely to agree to extend the jobless benefits as lawmakers supporting it struggle with a lame-duck session. The reason several lawmakers are against the extension is that the program, which gives aid to unemployed people for up to 99 weeks, has already been extended a record seven times during this recession. The federal extended benefits were started by Congress in July 2008.

The failure to extend the benefits will immediately impact around 800,000 Americans. These people fall under a state-federal program which is currently funded only by the federal government. The program offers 13-20 weeks of unemployment benefits to people who are residing in states with high unemployment rates. The remaining 1.2 million will lose benefits by December end, most of who are already on federal emergency extended benefits.

The money spent on unemployment insurance (UI) has also created jobs at the local level. For every dollar spend on UI, two dollars are spend in the local economy. Also, during every quarter of the recession, UI helped 1.6 million Americans stay employed.

CEO A. Harrison Barnes of Hound says being jobless does make it harder in finding employment. But retail stores, restaurants, and fast food chains are among the biggest hirers right now according to him. “Construction and manufacturing are down, but service sector jobs are the main source of jobs right now.” Hound has been able to find over 700,000 jobs.