HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — More than $100 million in federal unemployment benefits are on the way to Pennsylvania after the state’s jobless rate rose high enough to trigger additional help for 31,000 workers, the state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday.
Those jobless Pennsylvanians who qualify for the $104 million in aid will have already received up to 26 weeks of state unemployment compensation and 13 weeks of federal benefits, department spokesman John Currie said.
The department has begun notifying people who qualify, Currie said.
The first people to qualify will be those whose initial federal benefits expire next week or thereafter and who remain unemployed, the department said. Qualifiers can receive up to 13 additional weeks of benefits.
Under a federal law signed by President Bush in January, the extension is activated three weeks after a state hits an insured unemployment rate of 4 percent or higher that is at least 120 percent above the prior two-year average.
Pennsylvania’s insured unemployment rate — the rate measures only those covered by state unemployment benefits — hit 4.07 percent the week ending Jan. 18, Currie said.
In 2002, about 750,000 Pennsylvanians received about $2.6 billion in state unemployment benefits.
