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Understanding Pennsylvania’s wave of unemployment claims

Experts highlight factors that make state unique

  • Emily Previti/PA Post
A sign hangs in the door of Madcap & Company, a novelty store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on April 1, 2020.

 Russ Walker / PA Post

A sign hangs in the door of Madcap & Company, a novelty store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on April 1, 2020.

In the latest episode of Hidden Brain, historian Nancy Bartow discusses what we can learn from the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic; in particular, the social costs to expect from the coronavirus outbreak, which are already beginning to accumulate. Listen here. —Emily Previti, staff writer

Russ Walker / PA Post

A sign hangs in the door of Madcap & Company, a novelty store in Lancaster, Pa. (Russ Walker / PA Post)

Pennsylvanians filed more claims for unemployment compensation in recent weeks than the commonwealth has seen in a comparable timeframe, and the most nationally so far in the economic shutdown that officials — all of us, really — hope will contain the spread of COVID-19.

Pa. also is the sixth-most-populous state with the fifth largest workforce in the country.

But even when the number of claims filed is adjusted to account for those metrics, Pennsylvania still (nearly) tops the list, with 6 percent of the total workforce filing for unemployment, according to the most recent figures for all 50 states.

My latest story explores why unemployment claims are hitting such highs in Pennsylvania — so many came in on Monday the state’s processing system crashed multiple times, as Spotlight PA’s Rebecca Moss reported.

HawaiiWest Virginia and Illinois are among the other states where filing systems were overwhelmed by the number of claims submitted recently.

Some states responded by making changes such as switching to a structured filing schedule with designated times and/or days for people to submit claims based on last name or Social Security number. A few states (Colorado, for example) already were doing that before getting slammed by coronavirus filings.

WisconsinUtahArizona and other states that take their systems offline nightly or weekly for maintenance, versus the 24/7 submission process that’s the norm in some states, including Pa.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor & Industry declined to comment when asked Tuesday whether the commonwealth will consider similar approaches or other changes to avoid problems going forward. —Emily Previti

Best of the rest

Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel

Commonwealth Media Services

Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel discusses results of an internal review of parole cases that involved recent homicides or attempted homicides, during a press conference in Mechanicsburg on Wednesday, August 28, 2019. (Commonwealth Media Services)

  • The push to empty the state’s prisons and jails of non-violent criminals continues, according to Spotlight PA’s Cynthia Fernandez and Matthew McKinney. They report that Gov. Wolf’s office is drafting legislation to give the governor the authority to prioritize the release of inmates who fit certain criteria. The goal is to reduce the spread of the coronavirus among tightly confined prisoners inside facilities not equipped to handle the medical complications of COVID-19.

  • The Appeal’s Joshua Vaughn, meanwhile, reports that officials in the Wolf administration believe the governor already has the authority to release many prisoners through the use of his “reprieve” power.

  • Last week PA Post’s Joseph Darius Jaafari reported that the federal Bureau of Prisons continued to move inmates in and out of its facilities in Pennsylvania, raising concerns the practice would encourage the spread of coronavirus. PennLive reports that some members of Congress, including Pa.’s Rep. Fred Keller (R) , have introduced legislation to stop the transfers until the coronavirus outbreak is under control.

  • Activists and civil rights groups continue to push the federal government to release undocumented immigrants from ICE detention centers. According to The Inquirer, “Maddie, the 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who spent a record 250 days at the Berks County immigrant detention center, left the facility with her father” on Tuesday. The ACLU of Pennsylvania won the release of 10 of its clients from ICE facilities in a decision handed down Tuesday by a federal judge in Harrisburg.

  • The state Department of Community & Economic Development won’t process public records requests during the emergencyPA Post’s Ed Mahon found when he requested documents showing which businesses got waivers for Gov. Tom Wolf DCED’s denial came after our Ed Mahon and Spotlight PA’s Angela Couloumbis revealed that Wolf’s former business has been operating — even after the state revoked its waiver following their first story — and amid other row offices continuing to process records requests remotely to the extent possible.

  • Gov. Wolf wants to ban Airbnb after hosts were advertising rentals in the Poconos — recently declared a COVID-19 “hotspot” — as a “coronavirus-free” zone. One owner told WHYY’s Miles Bryant that his property’s booked for two weeks. In other parts of the state, seven counties were added to those under “stay-at home” rules yesterday.

  • A reader saw our item on Saturday about blood donations and sent along this reminder to underscore the urgent need. He wrote: “FYI – the Central PA Blood Bank www.cpbb.org, 1-800-771-0059, headquartered in Hummelstown, Dauphin County, is the primary blood bank in central PA, including Harrisburg & surrounding counties. They are in dire need of blood, & accepting donors by appointment only to promote social distancing, now open 7 days a week.”

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