( Photo by Tim Mossholder/Pexels ) HARRISBURG, Pa. - Unemployment claims in Pennsylvania exceeded 283,000 last week, a massive number that nevertheless was a 30% drop from the prior week’s all-time high as the state pressed for business shutdowns to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
All told, last week’s claims vaulted Pennsylvania past 1 million jobless claims since the coronavirus began taking a severe toll on the economy in mid-March. FULL COVERAGE: CORONAVIRUS From March 16 through Sunday, more than 1.1 million Pennsylvanians filed for unemployment benefits.
That’s about one-sixth of the nearly 6.6 million people that Pennsylvania reported being in the civilian labor force in February. RELATED COVERAGE: US unemployment claims