Pennsylvania To Resume Work Search Requirement For Unemployment Benefits
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania will resume work search requirements in July for people receiving unemployment compensation, a top Wolf administration official said Monday.
Gov. Tom Wolf's acting labor and industry secretary, Jennifer Berrier, told a state House of Representatives committee hearing that the requirement will resume July 18, meaning that people claiming jobless benefits will have to search for work during the previous week.
She also said that a work registration requirement will resume in September. The requirements have been waived by Wolf under his emergency disaster authority invoked during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republicans in Pennsylvania's GOP-controlled Legislature have pushed Wolf to reinstate the requirements, as employers say they are struggling to find enough workers and put the blame on jobless benefits that are padded with a $300-a-week federal pandemic benefit.
Some 750,000 people in Pennsylvania receiving jobless benefits either through a state or federal program were also receiving the extra $300 a week, according to the Department of Labor and Industry from mid-May.
The requirement will affect all unemployment programs, including unemployment compensation and its extension, the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program and the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, the department said.
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