Seven states hit hard by Jim Bunning's delay on unemployment benefits

As long as Jim Bunning delays a deal in Congress to extend unemployment benefits, states around the country will see unemployed Americans start to lose those benefits.

But seven states will be hit harder than any others: Florida, New York, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Georgia.

All of them will see an average 10,000 or more workers each week lose their benefits this month if Senator Bunning continues to hold up legislation, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a New York-based advocacy group for employment rights of lower-wage workers.

Take Florida. This month, an average 23,000 of its unemployed residents will lose benefits each week if Congress doesn't act. That's more than any other state – more than triple the number losing benefits in more populous California.

No. 2 New York and No. 3 Texas are not far behind. (Click on the chart at left.)

The variation has to do with how states qualified for the federal extended benefits, says Christine Riordan, a policy analyst with NELP.

Of course, the question facing these unemployed may be more about when they get an unemployment check rather than whether they get one. Congress in the past has extended unemployment benefits and made them retroactive when there were delays.

But even the loss of one weekly check could make life tough for those unemployed in the worst recession in decades.