Out of work Pennsylvanians will begin receiving an extra $300 a week in unemployment payments starting this week.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry made the announcement Friday.

The extension of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program is part of the federal stimulus that Congress passed last month.

“The boost in unemployment benefits is vital to hardworking Pennsylvania families who have lost their income as a result of the global pandemic,” said Jennifer Berrier, acting secretary of the Department of Labor and Industry. “I am pleased that L & I was able to work with the federal Department of Labor to get the information needed to quickly restart this program and get payments into the pockets of Pennsylvanians in need.”

The $300 is automatically added to each claimants’ payment; they do not need to submit an application. The department estimates about 127,000 claimants will receive the $300 FPUC increase as soon as Tuesday.

It includes the claim weeks ending Jan. 2 to March 13 .

There is no additional cost to the state’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund.

“L & I urged Congress to fund the extra payment in the stimulus bill and we’re happy that thousands of workers in need will start getting the extra boost in a few days,” Bernier said.

She said the department is still waiting for information from the federal Labor Department to get the extra $300 weekly payments to people in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs.

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