Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Secretary Nancy A. Walker today announced a new Shapiro Administration initiative to make the process of applying for Unemployment Compensation (UC) benefits even more accessible to Pennsylvanians who have lost a job through no fault of their own.

Pennsylvania's system for filing UC claims uses numerous fraud-detection measures, including virtual identity verification vendor ID.me to verify the identities of all new UC applicants. With grant funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, L&I has installed kiosks at 17 PA CareerLink® locations and 29 UPS locations throughout the Commonwealth to help Pennsylvanians navigate the ID.me process. By July, ID.me kiosks will be available in all PA CareerLink® locations.

"These kiosks are a lifeline for folks who don't have internet access or who need a little extra help navigating online systems," Secretary Walker said. "This is another way the Department is making identity verification accessible for underserved populations -- or for someone who simply wants in-person assistance."

The new kiosks are designed to enhance and improve the accessibility of the identity verification process, which claimants can still complete from their home computer or mobile phone should they choose to do so. For most claimants, the self-service identity verification options take fewer than 10 minutes to complete.

The kiosks are free to use and require no appointment. The kiosks allow claimants to bring physical documents to the location and skip the step of scanning a photo. For individuals who share a phone with others, the kiosks make the process of verification much easier.

All locations with kiosks have trained personnel on site who know how to help a claimant navigate the ID.me verification process.

UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION  

When he took office, Governor Josh Shapiro promised to make overhauling the UC system a priority and directed L&I to focus first on resolution of the pandemic-era backlog – a workload of 40,000 remaining claims filed between March 2020 and November 2021 that each required individual examination and adjudication. Under Secretary Walker's leadership, the entire backlog was eliminated within seven months.

With bipartisan support in the 2023-24 budget, L&I leveraged the Service Improvement and Infrastructure Fund (SIIF) to hire more than 380 additional UC interviewers to staff service centers and answer calls since January 2023. The impact of that investment is clear: wait times for phone assistance have decreased dramatically, and Pennsylvanians are once again receiving the efficient, timely customer service they deserve.

L&I distributed more than $1.7 billion in UC benefits in 2023 to about 326,000 Pennsylvanians – all of whom experienced the loss of a job or work hours through no fault of their own.

In March 2024, L&I received 40,390 claims and distributed UC benefits totaling $192,068,334 to 116,447 eligible claimants. 
In March, L&I served:

• 93,335 individuals through the UC helpline at 888-313-7284;
• 4,365 individuals through the UC Live Chat service;
• 16,690 individuals through email. 

Since May 2023, UC staff have been answering most emails within 24 hours. Through the Department's UC Connect program offering in-person customer service at PA CareerLink® locations, L&I served 2,394 individuals in March for a total of 73,117 since the program's launch in May 2022.

L&I reminds UC claimants of their responsibility to file weekly benefit certifications online or by using the Department's touch tone telephone service, called PAT, at 888-255-4728 (en Español, 877-888-8104).

RAPID RESPONSE SERVICES 

Rapid Response Services are available for businesses and workers in the event of job dislocation caused by a natural disaster, economic transition, planned layoff or closure through the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. Rapid Response Services are available to employers and employees at no cost.

In March, L&I provided Rapid Response Services to 45 employers and 1,639 workers.

L&I invites business owners experiencing economic challenges to contact the Department for Rapid Response assistance by emailing RA-LI-BWPO-Rapid@pa.gov or calling 866-858-2753. Workers can find additional support through the PA CareerLink® network.