PA Extends Unemployment Benefits For 13 More Weeks Amid Pandemic

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania is extending unemployment compensation for residents by an additional 13 weeks, officials announced this week.

Department of Labor & Industry Secretary Jerry Oleksiak, in an announcement Monday, said Pennsylvanians who exhaust their regular unemployment compensation and federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation can now qualify for 13 additional weeks of payments through a program called Unemployment Compensation Extended Benefits.

Extended Benefits are an additional benefit for workers whenever the state’s unemployment rate reaches a certain level. The last time the extended benefits program was triggered in Pennsylvania was the 2009 financial crisis.

The state's current unemployment rate was over 13 percent in May as the coronavirus pandemic closed businesses and forced people to stay home.

Since March 15 — the onset of the pandemic — more than 2 million Pennsylvanians have filed for unemployment and the state has paid out more than $21.5 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits.

The total amount extended benefits a resident may receive is 50 percent of the amount of regular unemployment compensation they were financially eligible to receive on the most recent claim. "For example, If you were financially eligible for 26 weeks of regular UC, you may receive up to 13 weeks" of extended benefits, the state explains.

Benefits are not payable until a person has exhausted the federal pandemic unemployment benefits.

The extended payments will begin with the week ending July 4.

Eligibility

You may be eligible for the extended benefits if:

• You are totally or partially unemployed
• You have exhausted your regular state benefits on your most recent Unemployment Compensation claim, or your most recent Unemployment Compensation benefit year has ended
• You have received the maximum amount of pandemic unemployment compensation that you were eligible to receive.

For more information on eligibility and how to apply, go here.

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