Keystone Today

New unemployment claims in Pennsylvania increased 49.1%, from 29,589 to 44,112 for the week ending on June 19, making it the state with the highest amount of new unemployment claims, according to The Times.

This latest development follows reports from Business Insider that notes that those states that have chosen not to extend additional federal unemployment benefits have also seen a decline in unemployment claims.

"The level is surprisingly high even as the economic reopening is continuing," Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High-Frequency Economics, told The Times.

During the same time period last year, there were only 42,577 new claims in Pennsylvania, indicating a 2,000 claim increase. Nationwide unemployment claims fell to 411,000 last week, down 7,000 from the 418,000 filed in 2020.

Currently, Pennsylvania lawmakers are still providing an additional $300 in federal unemployment benefits.

"You're starting to see a response to these programs ending," Aneta Markowska, chief financial economist for Jefferies LLC, told the Wall Street Journal. "Employers were having to compete with the government handing out money, and that makes it very hard to attract workers."

States whose governors announced the increased benefits would end in June have reportedly seen the number of people receiving unemployment benefits decrease 13.8% in the week ending June 12, compared to mid-May, according to Business Insider.

With Louisiana becoming the 26th state to discontinue increased federal unemployment benefits, Pennsylvania is in the minority of states that continue to provide the additional $300 in benefits to its unemployed population, according to a report by Fox Business.

Currently, approximately 40% of Pennsylvania workers could receive more money through unemployment than they can by working with the $300 federal bonus, according to research conducted by the American Action Forum.