Roughly 7% of Pennsylvanians are still out of work. | Stock Photo
Roughly 7% of Pennsylvanians are still out of work. | Stock Photo
Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians are staying unemployed despite more than half being at least partially vaccinated and the state only weeks from reopening.
WPXI in Pittsburgh reports that many reasons have played into why people are choosing not to go back to work just yet.
“Job quality and risk factors are some of the reasons why a lot of individuals are not seeking or looking to go back to work right now,” Markese Long, director of Outreach and Inclusion for Partner4Work, told WPXI.
Other criticisms Long said he has heard is that the extra $300 in unemployment benefits a month has deterred people from returning to the workforce. He also said that not creating better job quality is also a reason.
“If we don’t do a good enough job of creating better job quality across the region, we’re always going to continuously have this problem,” Long told WPXI.
Despite people not wanting to go back to work, many employees are seeking help as they begin reopening to full capacity as the state opens up. Bobby Kaczorowski, owner of BRK Custom Concrete, said he has spent hundreds on advertising trying to get employees but with no luck.
“I spent about $400 in the last six weeks on ads,” Kaczorowski said, as reported by WPIX. “I tried Indeed, I tried Facebook. Nothing is really working. People respond but they want to come work for cash. Out of the 20 to 25 people I interviewed, I would say at least 15 asked to be paid under the table because they’re collecting unemployment benefits.”
According to WXIP, Stinky’s Bar and Grill owner Valerie Dowds agreed that unemployment benefits were preventing people from returning to work, especially in the restaurant industry, saying “You’re going to get paid to stay at home. I can see people’s point, why would they work? They can stay home with their families.”
In April, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry sent a letter to businesses requesting that they report anyone on unemployment refusing to work, which may help kick-start people getting back to the workforce as they may be cut off unemployment if they refuse a job.
A recent University of Chicago study found that states that are cutting down unemployment benefit recipients could account for as much as 75% of increased job growth.
According to a report cited by WPXI, 7.3% of Pennsylvanians are still out of work.
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