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Ted Shea has been looking for work since 2008 and is part of a growing group of people who have exhausted their unemployment benefits. "I'm pinching my pennies and living on that very carefully and the food stamps. I don't do much of anything, I can't," said Shea, who lives in Turners Falls.

Ted Shea's unemployment benefits ran out in April. Since then, the former prep cook - unemployed since the restaurant he worked for closed at the end of 2007 - has been relying on food stamps, state-subsidized housing, a landlord who doesn't mind a few late rent payments, and support from friends.

Shea, 53, of Turners Falls, is among a growing group of people state employees informally refer to as "exhaustees" - jobless people who have exhausted unemployment benefits.

With a jobless benefits extension bill stalled in Washington, D.C., millions of people across the country who haven't found work stand to lose hundreds of dollars each in monthly benefits. In Massachusetts, state service organizations have been preparing for weeks for the coming onslaught of the unemployed people suddenly in a worse crisis than ever.

Throughout Massachusetts, 30,000 unemployed people have exhausted their unemployment insurance since June 26 - 580 of them in Hampshire and Franklin counties.

If Congress doesn't pass a $33.9 billion bill to extend unemployment insurance into November, 10,000 Massachusetts residents will exhaust their benefits every week, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Locally, benefits for about 270 Hampshire and Franklin county residents will expire every week.

"I'm pinching my pennies and living on that very carefully and the food stamps. I don't do much of anything, I can't," Shea said. "I couldn't even pay half the gas bill to my friend when we went shopping. He doesn't care about it, thank God, but still ..."

Long search

Shea said he has been searching for a job since 2008. He has worked with three temp agencies and has been offered a few permanent positions. But because he lacks a car and calls bus transportation in the area "unreliable" - or offered at times that don't fit a restaurant employee's work schedule - he said he has been unable to take a job.

"I had to pass on a McDonald's job. It's not the best in the world, but at least it's a job and a paycheck," he said. "I had to pass because the buses didn't run with any consistency. I couldn't get there or home again."

Shea is trying to scrape together enough money to buy a car. He was at the Department of Transitional Assistance in Greenfield Wednesday applying for emergency assistance. He wasn't expecting to get much by way of cash from emergency assistance, but was hoping to secure at least $100.

"(If) I could get a car, it probably will be a beater and I'll be walking and pushing it rather than paying for gas," he said with a laugh, "but it's something."

Just as the recession appears to be receding, a wave of unemployed people coming off public assistance threatens to hinder economic progress, experts say.

Meanwhile, some wonder how much unemployment insurance is too much.

A local economics professor says the availability of benefits could have an effect on how quickly people return to work.

"We don't have a lot of good evidence as to where this tipping point is," said James Hartley, a Mount Holyoke College economics professor.

He said there is a danger to extending unemployment benefits for too long. He said people receiving unemployment benefits typically won't take just any job. They'll wait until they secure one that matches their skill set and pay needs. While they are obtaining extensions and staying out of the workforce, their skills can decline.

"If you stay out for a bit your skill sets start declining, and you're less and less likely to find a great job that matches you," he said. "My gut feeling is we're in danger of running too long (with benefits)."

Not everyone agrees with Hartley. Gov. Deval L. Patrick said he would like to see Congress - Republicans in particular - quit "dithering" and vote to extend unemployment benefits. The Senate is expected to take up the bill July 12.

"Let's have a vote on the merits. Republicans who say they want to be helpful and care about people - come on and act like it," Patrick said in a telephone interview with the Gazette this week.

"I'm certainly hoping and continue to press Senator Brown to help out. I understand he may not want to vote on the merits of extending benefits, but he ought to at least let the matter come to a vote on merits and he is so far been one of the people blocking that."

Anxiety rising

In Massachusetts, if an unemployed person qualified for a series of four unemployment benefit extensions - which are no longer available to new applicants - he could have received up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. Under normal circumstances, a Massachusetts resident can receive up to 26 weeks of unemployment.

At the Northampton and Greenfield career centers, director Michael Truckey is seeing the number of people who are running out of benefits increase.

"As more time passes, the percentage (of people exhausting their benefits) is going to rise," Truckey said.

"They have increased anxiety and frustration."

For people who have run out or will soon exhaust their unemployment insurance, Truckey said the career centers can still offer help. The center can connect people with local service programs and direct them to larger aid programs such as food stamps. Staff can also continue helping the unemployed person find a job. The state runs an assistance program information and referral hotline (211).

Truckey said that high unemployment rates have made it difficult for people to find jobs. He does not subscribe to the notion that people on unemployment are not looking hard enough for jobs.

"People want to work. They were proud workers for 20 to 30 years, and they're still proud people that just want a job," Truckey said.

Although jobs have been added to the Massachusetts workforce over the last four months, the unemployment rate was 9.2 percent in May, according to the most recent information from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Nationwide, the unemployment rate was 9.7 percent that month.

The Valley isn't suffering as much as the rest of the state. Locally, the unemployment rate was 7.4 percent in May.

Business sectors that have added jobs in the last few months include education, health services, construction and the government (mostly due to the hiring of temporary Census workers).

"It's all good news, but if you're the one out of work, you couldn't care less about the good statistics," Patrick said. "Unemployment benefits and the kind of support like it that were in the stimulus act are very stimulating to the economy. You get those unemployment checks and you pay for your groceries, you pay your bills. It's immediate spending into the economy."