The unemployment compensation program, enacted in 1936, is one of the state’s most vital social programs. Unemployment compensation provides a safety net for individuals who have become unemployed through no fault of their own. The program was created to enhance economic security, as “involuntary unemployment and its resulting burden of indigency falls with crushing force upon the unemployed worker, and ultimately upon the commonwealth and its political subdivisions,” according to the Unemployment Compensation Law, 43 P.S. Section 752.

The program holds special importance for Philadelphia, as its 7.6 percent unemployment rate remains the highest in the state, according to “Fast Facts,” Philadelphia County Workforce Investment Area (June 2015). Philadelphia ranks as the poorest big city in the country and 12.3 percent of Philadelphians live in deep poverty, the U.S. Census Bureau reported in “Quick Facts for Philadelphia County.” Communities of color are most directly affected: Pennsylvania currently has the fifth highest black unemployment rate and the third highest Hispanic unemployment rate in the country, according to “Black Unemployment Rate Dips Below 10 Percent in 11 of 24 States Measured in Second Quarter,” Economic Policy Institute. In April, according to “Fast Facts,” black and Hispanic applicants filed 63.2 percent of the initial claims for unemployment compensation benefits in Philadelphia.

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