Pennsylvania poised to enact bill to preserve federal jobless benefits

Pennsylvania's Senate is expected to pass a bill Friday that would allow 45,000 jobless residents to continue to receive 13 weeks of federally funded unemployment benefits.

The bill, which the House passed without opposition Thursday, comes after the state's payrolls shed 14,200 jobs in May amid a sluggish labor market nationally.

The state's unemployment rate - 7.4 percent in May, down from 7.5 percent the month before - is markedly lower than the nation's 9.1 percent.

The 13 weeks of benefits are the final weeks of checks that any unemployed Pennsylvanian can expect to receive.

The bill, which Gov. Corbett is expected to sign as early as Friday, has implications beyond protecting the benefits of the jobless. It would make significant changes in how Pennsylvania's unemployment compensation insurance fund is financed. The fund is $3.8 billion in the hole and borrowing money from the federal government to make payments.

The changes in the bill the Senate will consider would not require employers to raise the amount they pay into the fund. Employers and workers already pay a surcharge because the fund is borrowing money from the federal government.

The legislation, a compromise after weeks of negotiation, would save the fund $133 million a year because it would tighten eligibility and require claimants to spend their severances first. The jobless must also look for work.

Employment lawyer Sharon Dietrich of Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, an advocate for low-wage workers, said the best way to solve the fund's long-term problems would be to increase employer payments into the system instead of cutting the number of people who would be eligible for benefits.

"We are paying unemployment benefits based on 2011 wages, as we should, but we are taxing employers as though it is 1984," she said in a statement.

Pennsylvania's Chamber of Commerce applauded the compromise in a statement. Chamber vice president Gene Barr described the bill as a "good start, and we look forward to continue to work to bring solvency and additional reforms to the system."

Contact staff writer Jane M. Von Bergen at 215-854-2769 or jvonbergen@phillynews.com.

Inquirer staff writer Amy Worden contributed to this article.