Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Corbett (photo, right) says a portion of Pennsylvania’s 591-thousand workers without jobs are choosing to stay unemployed.
During a door-to-door tour of Elizabethtown businesses, Attorney General Tom Corbett said “the jobs are there,” but that many people are purposely remaining unemployed, in order to collect benefits.
He says he’s heard this from business owners across Pennsylvania.
"One of the issues, and I hear it repeatedly – one of the individuals said, ‘I can’t get workers. People don’t want to come back to work while they still have unemployment.’ They’re literally telling him, ‘I’ll come back to work when unemployment runs out.’ That’s becoming a problem."
Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is at 9.1 percent. That’s slightly below the national rate of 9.5 percent.
Labor and Industry Department spokesman Troy Thompson says the average unemployment compensation amount is about $310 a week...
"If an unemployed worker did turn down a job because they could make more on unemployment compensation the job offer would be for less than half of their former salary.
Corbett’s Democratic opponent in the November election, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, said in a statement he “doesn’t know what planet Corbett is living on,” and that “Pennsylvania families are hurting” in the current economic climate.
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