State plans to extend jobless benefits
Pennsylvania is preparing to activate an unemployment program that would extend benefits for up to 13 more weeks for eligible individuals.
The program, which is set to begin in July, is triggered by high unemployment rates statewide.
The last time Pennsylvania activated the extended benefits program was during the fallout from the Great Recession in 2009. Now it comes at a time when more than 2 million Pennsylvanians have filed for unemployment compensation amid business closures and shut down orders resulting from the COVID-19 crisis.
The state program is scheduled to begin at the same time a similar federal program — the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program — is coming to an end for some individuals.
The PEUC program — part of the federal government’s stimulus package to provide economic relief to people impacted by the COVID19 pandemic and resulting business closures and stay-at-home orders — provided unemployment compensation for people who had already exhausted their benefits.
Traditionally, people are eligible for up to 26 weeks of unemployment compensation, according to information on the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s website.
The PEUC program, which Pennsylvania launched in May, allowed individuals who had exhausted traditional unemployment compensation for various reasons. They could collect benefits from as far back as the week ending April 4. Those payments are available through Dec. 26, and individuals can collect a maximum of 13 weeks.
That means, by the end of June, some individuals will have exhausted those benefits as well.
Once that happens, the state will set them up with an extended benefits claim, said Susan Dickinson, director of the Office of Unemployment Compensation Benefits Policy.
“I’m sure a lot of people who are running out of PEUC benefits are nervous and wondering what’s coming next,” Ms. Dickinson said at a news briefing Monday. “Now, we are able to give them the news that we have this other program and will be able to get that information out to everyone in the next couple weeks.”
Unlike PEUC and other temporary federal programs, Pennsylvania’s extended benefits program is always an option, Ms. Dickinson said.
The program is usually inactive and is triggered by a complicated set of factors, including the ratio of the number of individuals collecting unemployment compensation to the number of individuals who could potentially collect benefits if they lost their jobs, and how that ratio compares to the past two years.
Pennsylvania last activated the extended benefits program in 2009, Ms.
Dickinson said. This time, the extended benefits period was triggered on May 3, according to Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry.
In Pennsylvania, the unemployment rate for this April was 15.1%, up 9.3 percentage points from the previous month.
The state unemployment rate for May will be released Friday, but the national unemployment rate that month was between 13.3% and 16.3%.
Since March 15, Pennsylvania has received 2.6 million initial claims and paid $16.4 billion in benefits. Of that, the state has distributed $91 million through the federal PEUC program.
In order to be eligible for the state’s extended benefits program, individuals must first have exhausted their PEUC benefits, Ms. Dickinson said.
Individuals will be able to file for unemployment compensation through the extended benefits program starting with the week ending July 4. The amount of benefits available depends on an individual’s regular benefits and ranges from nine to 13 weeks.
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry did not yet have information about how people can claim benefits through the program once it is activated, Ms. Dickinson said.