Rep. Kate Klunk, R-York, holds up a newspaper classified section with jobs that are going unfilled in her area.

Those receiving unemployment may have to once again prove they are looking for work.

Work search requirements were suspended legislatively through the end of 2020, but Gov. Tom Wolf has continued to waive them administratively since then. At a recent Labor and Industry Committee hearing, the Acting Secretary testified that the full range of work search and registration requirements may not be reinstated until September, which is far too long to wait to begin Pennsylvania’s economic recovery.

Rep. Jim Cox, R-Cox, said 27 other states have reinstated work search requirements for people to be eligible for unemployment benefits. Cox’ legislation My bill would require the Department of Labor and Industry to reinstate the work search and registration requirements no later than June 8, the date the new Unemployment Compensation benefits system goes live, or 15 days after House Bill 406 is passed.

“This is a bill that probably could have and should have been introduced a little earlier,” Cox said during a Labor and Industry Committee meeting Tuesday. “It’s not anything that should take anyone by surprise.”

On March 2, Cox asked state officials if there was a plan to get people back to work only to find out recently that the plan was going to be released in September.

During the committee meeting, Rep. Kate Klunk, R-York, noted employers in her district and across Pennsylvania are desperate for employees and then read from a local paper’s employment advertisements to underscore the number of jobs opening in her local area.

“In talking to the businesses across my district, it is clear there are hundreds of openings just in south-central York county,” Klunk said.

Hanover Foods, a business in Klunk’s district, told her that the businesses’ manufacturing center has been forced to close at times and is shorting customers’ orders. The business owner says the company pays fair wages but can’t get applicants for its open jobs.

“This letter is a letter I’m sure that business owners across Pennsylvania could write,” Klunk said. “They could just put their business name in there and have a lot of the same concerns. As I saw this memo circulated for the bill I couldn’t help to think of all the phone calls we’ve received in my distinct about those who have been unemployed and how any job openings there are available just in our region alone.”

Rep. Leanne Krueger, D-Delaware, said she doesn’t support reinstating work requirements during the changeover to a new unemployment compensation system. She told the story of preschool teachers who took 49 weeks to get their unemployment benefits paid, and the teachers would have to give up their fall teaching jobs to search for other jobs. She was also critical that the bill applies to pandemic-related uninsurance in addition to the state unemployment program.

Krueger and other Democrats on the committee said they fear imposing work requirements while changing the unemployment system will result in chaos.

“They’re estimating that the system could be offline for two weeks while folks who have been struggling to get their benefits, benefits that they’ve paid into with every paycheck, and have been going through so many challenges during this pandemic,” Krueger said. “I think the time is wrong for us to be voting on House Bill 406.”