Pennsylvanians still waiting for unemployment payments as new program begins

CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. — The Lost Wages Assistance Program started this week, giving unemployed Pennsylvanians $300 a week in benefits instead of the previous $600.

The payment can be backdated for all of August, but some people say that isn’t enough.

Some people in the Pittsburgh area are still waiting for their $600 weekly stimulus payments from earlier in the year.

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People like Erin Topper, who has a cleaning business out of Connellsville, said it hasn’t been easy to make ends meet.

“You know, with COVID, there was a lot of clients that said, ‘No, we don’t want you in our house,’” Topper said.

State Rep. Ryan Warner said his office gets 60 to 70 calls a week from people needing help, and all they can really do is take down a list of people who need help and send it to the Department of Labor when they request it.

“They’ve been trying to get through unemployment for weeks. They got no response to their emails. They literally just leave the phone, you know, dialing constantly trying to get through and they can’t,” Warner said.

Warner said people having problems with unemployment should reach out to their local state senator or representative because they can at least take names down and eventually send them to someone who might be able to help.

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