Pennsylvania jobless claims climb to 1.6 million

Fewer Pennsylvanians filed new jobless claims last week, new figures show, but the impact of coronavirus-related shutdowns across the state since mid-March has resulted in nearly 1.6 million workers filing claims.

More than 196,000 workers filed initial claims for the seven-day period beginning April 12, down some 42,000 claims from the week of April 5, the state Department of Labor and Industry announced Thursday. The peak for initial unemployment claims — nearly 406,000 — came the week of March 22.

“We’re just at the beginning edge of this. It is going to get worse, if it is not reversed soon,” said Jake Haulk, president emeritus of the Castle Shannon-based Allegheny Institute for Public Policy.

The state received nearly 80,000 new jobless claims for the four-day period from April 19-22, a rate which could bring filings to about 140,000 for the week.

The drop in initial unemployment claims comes at a time when Gov. Tom Wolf gave car dealerships and real estate businesses the opportunity to close deals using electronic notarization of the necessary documents pertaining to the purchase of a home and vehicle.

Wolf has announced he wants a phased opening of the state’s economy beginning May 8, while maintaining the social distancing that has been cited as a necessity to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that causes covid-19. He said the first sections of the state to reopen would be the northwestern region, where Erie is located, and north-central, which is not as densely populated as other regions in the state.

The state’s unemployment rate rose to 6% in March, an increase of 1.3 percentage points, but the data for those jobless figures was collected in mid-March — before Wolf’s shutdown order took full effect.

With 1.58 million workers filing claims for unemployment compensation since the shutdowns began, the jobless rate for the seven-county Pittsburgh region could jump by 20%, adding to the 4.6% unemployment rate in the region in February, Haulk said. The region’s jobless rate figures will be released Tuesday.

One-half of the retail sector is out of work and 80% to 90% of restaurants and bars are either shut down or limited to take-out, leaving many employees out of work. The entertainment sector is shutdown, and the hospitality industry, with its hotels, is suffering as well, Haulk said.

Metal fabricating companies are caught up in Wolf’s shutdown order, and it may not be long before the steel industry, which makes the metals to be fabricated, begins hurting as well, he said.