Acting State Labor & Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier announced yesterday that beginning July 18th, jobless workers will have to prove they applied for two jobs per week in order to receive unemployment benefits, and must also register with PA Careerlink. Those two requirements were suspended last year because of the pandemic.
Some industry representatives, however, want the requirements to start earlier. The president of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association testified at a hearing of the House Labor & Industry Committee yesterday that there are about 60,000 trucking jobs available, paying as much as 20 dollars per hour, but they are being told by prospective drivers that they make as much staying home as they would if they were working. Rebecca Oyler also told the committee that Pennsylvania needs to do away with the extra $300 per week the federal government is paying the unemployed, as at least 20 other states have done.
Testifying at the same hearing, Berrier disputed the contention that the unemployed make as much by staying home as they would by working. She said the average jobless benefit is $340 per week, plus the extra $300 from the federal government, for a combined total that is about half as much as an average worker makes. Berrier said many people are looking for better jobs than the ones available, to which Representative Eric Davanzo replied that “the idea of collecting unemployment until that dream job comes along is absurd.”
