Keystone Today

The average Pennsylvania worker will earn more money collecting unemployment benefits with additional federal assistance than they would reporting to a job, according to media reports. As a result businesses are suffering.

As previously reported by Keystone Today, businesses across Pennsylvania are having trouble with staffing as they can't find enough people to fill available positions.

“Not being able to find enough workers is a hard cap on growth,” said Carl Marrara, vice president of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association in Harrisburg. “The employer community is starting to become more vocal about the problems they're having and reaching out to their local elected officials about how big of a problem it is.”

Carl Marrara | provided

Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is currently 7.3%, according to state data.

“The biggest hindrance for people re-entering the workforce is that there's just too much of an incentive to stay home but it seems politically popular to ‘help people’ rather than cutting them off," Marrara told Keystone Today. "I would argue that by continuing to perpetuate this problem, you're actually harming people even more because the longer that people are removed from the workforce, the less likely they are to reengage.” 

CBS News reported that several states are opting out of the extra federal unemployment dollars that have been offered by COVID-19 relief packages and the governors of these states are doing so in an effort to incentivize people to get back on the job market.

“It's not something I've heard the governor’s office speak to so I doubt there would be much of an appetite there," Marrara said in an interview. "But I do think in the General Assembly, there's very much an appetite to do something like that.” 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reportedly plans to reinstate the job search requirement for any Floridian collecting unemployment, and the Pennsylvania House approved HB 129, which would re-establish the work search requirement statewide for those who are receiving unemployment benefits.

The bill is pending with the Senate Labor and Industry Committee.

“Given the fact that it was a straight party-line vote, I don't foresee the governor’s office being too keen to sign a bill like this,” Marrara said. “I think we have a lot of work to do to try to get this passed but I do think it would be a step in the right direction because people and capital are more mobile than they have ever been.”

States that boldly reduce the number of workers who receive unemployment benefits could account for as much as 75% of increased job growth following the changes, according to a University of Chicago study.

“The biggest category of capital is time, and in Pennsylvania our regulatory environment is backward,” Marrara added. “Companies are waiting 2 1/2 years for permits to grow, expand or to establish a new facility. That's opportunity costs that no business can afford when you can go to Texas, Arizona, or Colorado even and get a permit turned around in 24 hours.”