What’s Happening in Pennsylvania?
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Department of Education: Wolf administration outlines preliminary guidance for phased reopening of schools
Text of June 3 press release. Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) today said elementary and secondary schools in the state’s yellow and green phases may resume in-person instruction and activities beginning July 1 under a phased reopening approach that first requires schools to develop health and safety plans based on guidelines…
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Massive unemployment scam strikes up to 58,000 people in Pa., far more than previously known
HARRISBURG — Mike Consevage came home from work the Friday before the long Memorial Day weekend to find two unemployment checks sitting on his kitchen table with his mail. Consevage, a Harrisburg-based pediatric cardiologist for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, immediately knew something was wrong: He is employed and never filed for unemployment. “I…
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Why Networked Communities are the Key to Recovery
It’s a truth the COVID-19 crisis has made abundantly clear; our health, our jobs and livelihoods are all inextricably linked. As the virus deals a blow to the complex and invisible web that connects us, we feel it in unexpected ways — bare grocery store shelves, idle manufacturing plants, empty college parking lots, and hospitals…
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Pa. officials warn of scams targeting unemployment benefit recipients during coronavirus pandemic
Scammers are getting away with using Social Security numbers and other identifying information belonging to identity theft victims to commit unemployment compensation fraud, officials at the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry warn. “Unlike some other states, Pennsylvania is not seeing a large increase in unemployment scams since COVID-19 mitigation efforts began,” Secretary Jerry Oleksiak…
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State’s new unemployment claims continue to drop as restrictions ease
HARRISBURG – The number of people filing unemployment claims in the week ending May 17 dropped below 62,000 for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic prompted the state to close nonessential businesses statewide. State Labor and Industry data shows the number of claims has dropped to 61,864 in the period. That’s fewer new claims in…
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Department of Labor & Industry: Pennsylvania launches program for people who exhaust their unemployment compensation benefits.
ext of May 17 media advisory. Provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits. More than $7.9 billion in total unemployment benefits paid since mid-March. Harrisburg, PA – Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Secretary Jerry Oleksiak today announced the launch of Pennsylvania’s Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program to provide an additional 13 weeks of benefits…
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Your View: Finding Pennsylvania jobs in a post-coronavirus world
Elizabeth Dodson was working toward her customer service certification from the Pennsylvania CareerLink Lehigh Valley when the coronavirus hit; Gov. Wolf issued his first stay-at-home order as she was scheduling her first job interviews. Happily, Dodson landed a job anyway, starting April 6 as an inventory control specialist at McKesson Medical-Surgical in Bethlehem and is now earning…
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PA officials looking at securing federal loan to bolster state Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a major impact on Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. Pennsylvania is looking to obtain a federal loan to help bolster the UC Trust Fund now facing unprecedented jobless claims due resulting from job layoffs due to the pandemic, said Jerry Oleksiak, secretary of the Department of Labor and Industry, on…