PA Has Highest Surge In Unemployment
With only 4% of the U.S. population – this week, Pennsylvania managed to rack up 11.5% of the country’s unemployment claims.
Reuters reported yesterday that “Pennsylvania, so far not a hot zone for the spread of coronavirus in the United States, recorded the biggest jump in unemployment benefits claims last week amid a record-setting national wave of layoffs, eclipsing California and other states that are home to epicenters of the outbreak.
The “Keystone State,” which has reported about 1,600 coronavirus cases, putting it behind 10 other states, according to a Reuters tally, saw new jobless claims from more than 360,000 people – roughly twice that of the next highest, Ohio.”
New York State, by comparison, has 6.44% of the country’s population, but only reported 2.5% of the unemployment claims. Then again, if the CDC’s data comes even close to reflecting how many people actually have the virus, New York might wish to trade their statistics with Pennsylvania. As of last night, more than 48% of the reported Covid-19 cases were in New York State.
Wolf Gets Criticism and Credit for Early Lockdown
Governor Tom Wolf was an “early adopter” of shutting down all “non-essential” businesses. That might explain why, at least so far, Pennsylvania’s unemployment claims are so disproportionate to its population. Wolf issued his lockdown order on March 19. On the same day, Governor Gavin Newsome issued a similar order in California. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have since followed suit.
After Wolf’s order, Pennsylvania House Republicans issued the following statement:
The Wolf Administration set off a panic tonight throughout the Commonwealth with its edict to shut down employers. The ill-prepared actions, announced after normal business hours, are not only an economic blow to every worker in the state right now but will have ramifications long into the future.
Any announcement in an emergency event such as this calls for clear and efficient lines of communication, but the open-ended and short-noticed announcement today is the complete opposite and only adds to the sense of chaos many Pennsylvanians are struggling with tonight.
“These actions will shut down many small, family-owned shops and businesses, not only for the duration of this event, but possibly, and probably, forever.
“The sprawling and confusing list provided by the governor is provided with no explanation, and we will explore all avenues available to us to determine whether the action he’s taken is allowed within our state Constitution.
“It is incumbent upon all state leaders to recognize that long after we have defeated this public health threat, we must have the ability to create economic opportunities for all Pennsylvanians.
“Therefore, we are compelled to raise our voice on behalf of millions of hard-working Pennsylvanians who are already making enormous sacrifices in the face of this worldwide event, none of which was of their own choosing.
To the surprise of nobody, House Democrats were more supportive of Wolf’s order. Here’s their statement.
This unprecedented national public health emergency demands leadership from all levels of government. This is a matter of life and death, without hyperbole. That’s a reality we all need to confront. In conjunction with top medical professionals, the governor is leading our state and working to make the best decisions based on medical evidence. Every hour we see more of that evidence in front of us.
Now is the time to reduce people’s contact in order to lessen the impact of this crisis and reduce its duration. Simply put, the action taken by the governor, which is strongly supported by Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, will save lives. Taking swift action sooner rather than later will lessen the long-term impact on businesses and help our employers and employees return to normal as soon as possible.
The governor is facing impossible choices and is making decisions based on the advice of medical experts. We will continue to work and offer help and guidance to all affected employees and employers. We thank all the business owners who have led the way in this effort and helped prevent the spread of the virus, as well as the medical professionals and first responders who are once again running toward an emergency as others run away.
We’re currently looking at a public health crisis the likes of which we have not seen in recent times. Being an elected official is about serving the public, and that service is needed now more than ever. We ask all Pennsylvanians to stay home, stay calm and stay safe, and we commit to following the governor’s leadership and doing everything in our power to mitigate the life-changing impact this will have on our state.
We’re all in this together as Pennsylvanians, and by working together and heeding the advice of our medical professionals we can minimize the potential damage to our people and our state
Yahoo.com reported that Michigan, of the three critical Blue-to-Red swing states from the 2016 Presidential Election (in addition to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania), is also among “the leaders” in new unemployment claims. Wisconsin is also well above the national aveage.