Aug 4, 2020 3 min read

The $600 weekly checks from the federal government that were being sent to jobless Americans have stopped, and Jerry Oleksiak, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, said Monday that he is hoping those checks resume soon.

In a conference call with reporters, Oleksiak also warned that if the payments are renewed, but calculated so recipients receive checks based on a percentage of their income rather than a flat rate, it would take upwards of three to four months for Pennsylvania’s unemployment office to make that adjustment.

“It could take a considerable amount of time to adjust to that system,” Oleksiak said.

Oleksiak added that he and other officials would like the payments, which are being made through the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Program, to not just resume, but continue at the same flat rate.

“We would like to see it be kept at $600,” he said.

The fate of the payments has been up in the air. Negotiations on extending them have bogged down on Capitol Hill. About two million Pennsylvanians have received the $600 weekly payments during the course of the pandemic, according to Susan Dickinson, director of Office of Unemployment Compensation Benefits and Policy. She was not certain, however, how many Pennsylvanians might have lost the $600 weekly checks, since some of those two million people might have returned to their jobs in recent weeks.

Oleksiak did point out that Pennsylvanians who were relying on the $600 weekly checks could turn to other programs for assistance, including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Familes (TANF).

All told, $32 billion in unemployment benefits have been dispersed to Pennsylvanians since the coronavirus pandemic reached the commonwealth in March. Employment in the office that gets those benefits to state residents has increased 122% in the last five months, Oleksiak said, with more employees due to come on board in September.

Pennsylvania has received an interest-free, $800 million line of credit from the federal government to make unemployment payments in August, and will be receiving $1 billion from Washington, D.C., in both September and October. Oleksiak said Pennsylvania received a similar loan during the Great Recession to shore up its unemployment compensation fund and paid the loan back early.

As of last week, the unemployment rate in Washington County was 12.7%, and 12.9% in Greene County.

The Department of Labor and Industry will be hosting another virtual town hall to discuss issues related to unemployment Thursday at 1 p.m. It is available by calling 833-380-0719 or going online to https://access.live/PAlabor.