PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania’s upgraded unemployment compensation system officially launched last week. Since then, nearly 367,000 individuals have filed for weekly unemployment benefits using the online system or by phone, while an additional 40,000 people opened a new claim for benefits.
“These numbers are tracking with the amount of weekly claims and new claims we were seeing filed on the old system, so we believe that the majority of individuals are successfully able to log in and file using the new system,” said Jennifer Berrier, Department of Labor and Industry acting secretary.
Some people may still be struggling to navigate the new system, but Berrier assured those issues are on an individual basis and not systemwide glitches.
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For the few claimaints still having trouble, she said the department is increasing its outreach. The department is continuing to hire more employees, and this week, it is launching a new text alert system for people who reach out for help.
The texts alert claimants that a department representative is trying to call them.
“To prevent fraud, we will not be asking for any personal information over text or having individuals click on a link,” Berrier noted. “We will solely be letting individuals who are trying to reach us know that we are ready to call them so that they know to answer their phone.”
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No personal information will be requested through text. It’s simply a tool to encourage people to pick up a callback about their unemployment benefit questions from a number they don’t recognize.
“Now it’s a matter of education and providing some instruction to individuals on how to use that Keystone login,” she added. “If you’re having trouble creating or logging in with your Keystone ID, please check out the video walk-through or instruction sheet that we have on our website, the systems check enhancement tracker, our social media pages, and an email that we have sent to you.”