PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Jermaine Heath lost his job in September and immediately applied for unemployment. The journey following that has been long and frustrating, as Heath still has not received any payments.
“I have four boys that need to be taken care of,” Heath said. “It becomes a crunch on your finances.”
“It’s hard when you have your landlord calling you for your rent.”
Because of this, Heath joined advocates outside the governor’s Philadelphia office Tuesday to release a Keystone Research Center (KCR) report showing the extent of problems with the unemployment system.
They are asking for action from the incoming administration.
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Issues spiked during the pandemic when initial claims for unemployment rose 20 times the average rate, according to the KCR report.
According to Sharon Dietrich of Community Legal Services, in the midst of the pandemic, the state launched a new, online application that led to backlogs and broke down communication leaving applicants with no way to get information.
Many cannot even get applications filed, Dietrich added.
The report says Pennsylvania ranks toward the bottom for processing claims with nearly half of workers waiting 10 weeks for payments.
Department of Labor and Industry officials agree improvements are needed and say a bill in the Pa. state House would help reduce barriers and wait times.
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Susan Dickinson, deputy secretary for unemployment, says the department has received federal funding to improve access and equity, is increasing staffing levels and making improvements to the online system to reduce the waiting period for payments to the online system.
“We were able to hire 80 people in August and September,” Dickinson said. “Having new staff on board is very helpful. They answer a lot of phones and they also answer emails.”
“As we’re finding ways to make the process better for everyone, we’re putting in those changes and getting changes to the system little by little.”
Despite their efforts, advocates say it’s still too slow to pay and not responsive enough.