MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Some jobless benefits are set to expire for about 11,400 Alabama residents.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports that the emergency unemployment benefits are to end Saturday because Congress left town for the year without extending federal aid for the long-term unemployed.

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation program began in 2008 during the recession as a supplement to state benefits, especially in places with chronically high unemployment. As the federal program is set to expire at the end of this year, President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress have called for another extension.

Alabama's unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in November, but some counties have double-digit unemployment. They include Wilcox County at 13.9 percent, Bullock County at 11.9 percent, and Perry and Dallas counties at 11.1 percent.