Lapse of U.S. Unemployment Benefits May Cool Consumer Spending

Sharron Tetrault and her family have already decided to forego exchanging gifts this holiday season. The expiration of her jobless benefits may force her to stop paying her utility bills or even rent.

Tetrault is among the about 1.2 million unemployed Americans the National Employment Labor Project in Washington says will lose their emergency and extended jobless insurance benefits by the end of the year with the scheduled expiration of the programs on Nov. 30. The resulting reduction in incomes may hurt consumer spending at the height of the holiday shopping period and restrain economic growth.