Mar. 02, 2021
HARRISBURG – During Tuesday’s House Appropriations Committee budget hearing with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Acting Secretary of Labor and Industry Jennifer Berrier testified that Pennsylvania has permanently lost 500,000 jobs due to economic shutdowns initiated by Gov. Tom Wolf.
In a line of questioning by Rep. Jim Struzzi (R-Indiana), Acting Sec. Berrier noted there were 6.1 million jobs before the pandemic and now there are 5.6 million jobs, the remainder being permanently lost.
Later, Rep. Natalie Mihalek (R-Allegheny/Washington) live-called the Unemployment Compensation Call Center and received a busy signal to lead off questioning. Acting Sec. Berrier had no answer for why Pennsylvanians are repeatedly spending days waiting for someone to answer the phone and then another two to nine weeks before they receive a response to questions other than to say the issues are “complex.”
Acting Sec. Berrier and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry will continue to testify before the House Appropriations Committee through the day Tuesday.
Live hearing footage can be seen at
PAHouseGOP.com/livestreams.
House Republican Caucus
Pennsylvania House of Representatives