Pennsylvania's cut of $300-a-week jobless aid half gone, apply now before it's too late, state says
A week after the Trump administration abruptly announced that hundreds of thousands of covid-19-related jobless Pennsylvanians would receive an extra $300 weekly for six weeks only rather than through the end of the year, as initially promised, the state said it already distributed almost half of its allocation.
Pennsylvania sent $1.3 billion of its $2.8 billion federal allocation to eligible unemployed workers under the federal government’s Lost Wages Assistance Program, the Department of Labor & Industry said this week.
“Pennsylvania will not get more money” from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the $300-a-week benefit, Labor Secretary Jerry Oleksiak said. “It is critical to apply for funding as soon as possible.”
“We do not currently have an estimate on when funding will be depleted since the majority of claimants have already been paid their LWA benefits and the rest will be paid as their underlying benefits are decided,” said Sarah DeSantis, a Labor & Industry spokeswoman.
There were 650,000 workers in Pennsylvania who were unemployed in August, based on seasonal hiring factors, the state said Friday.
The Lost Wages program covers unemployment from the beginning of August through the first week of September. It was designed to replace the $600 weekly payments the jobless received under the federal CARES Act, which was passed in late March. Congress has failed to reach an agreement on another stimulus bill.
FEMA has not provided an end date for the program, DeSantis said. The state will announce the filing deadline when FEMA reveals it, Oleksiak said.
Those seeking money through the Lost Wages Assistance Program must certify they are jobless because of covid-19, except for workers receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for independent contractors and gig workers, Oleksiak said.
The Trump administration in early August announced it was creating the $300-a-week aid to those unemployed because of the pandemic, but that the money would not come from traditional unemployment compensation sources. Instead, it came from FEMA, which is tasked with aiding those suffering from natural disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes. The Trump administration said the program would last until the end of December, or until the money runs out.
According to the federal rules for obtaining the assistance, the jobless must receive $100 in other unemployment compensation or the state must make up the $100. The catch for unemployed Pennsylvanians is that the state is not making up any difference in a jobless recipient’s compensation, if it is below $100 a week. Pennsylvania anticipates borrowing about $800 million this month from the federal government’s unemployment compensation trust fund to continue paying benefits to the jobless.
Low-wage workers, particularly those in retail or restaurant jobs, are hurt by the requirement that they must make at least $100 in other unemployment benefits to qualify for the $300 aid because many of their paychecks are not sufficient to get them to that level, said Barney Oursler, director of the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee, which has helped the jobless navigate the unemployment system for decades.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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