Happy Holidays from Senator Tartaglione!

During these times of uncertainty, holidays mean more to us and our families. Although we may not be able to celebrate together, I want to wish you all a happy holiday. We will get through this difficult time and be together once again.

— Senator Tartaglione

Some Taxpayers Should Get Stimulus Payments Next Week; Others Will Have to Wait Longer

Some Americans may receive their federal stimulus payments as soon as next week, but many may have to wait weeks or months to collect their checks, according to The Washington Post.

Citing “a plan circulated internally” by the Internal Revenue Service, the newspaper reported that the government plans to send electronic payments to millions of Americans via direct deposit in the upcoming days. But for those whose banking information isn’t on file with the IRS, the government will issue about $30 million in paper checks starting on April 24 and continuing through September.

Separately, the Secretary of the Treasury has stated publicly that taxpayers whose banking information is not on file will be able to sign up for direct deposit through a “simple web portal.” Yet, that website is not expected to be online until later this month.

The IRS plan detailed by the Post “would distribute paper checks to the lowest-income Americans first, prioritizing payments for individual taxpayers with incomes of $10,000 or less on April 24.”

Checks for those who earned $20,000 or less would be sent May 1. The income group would increase by $10,000 for each ensuing week. The IRS expects to send 5 million checks in each batch, culminating on Sept. 4 with checks going out to joint taxpayers who earned up to a combined $198,000. Those making more than that are not eligible for stimulus payments.

The Federal Trade Commission has warned that scam artists may be try to contact taxpayers to con them out of their stimulus payments. Taxpayers don’t have to “sign up” to receive a payment and should not reply to anyone who contacts them by telephone or emails and requests their personal information.

The only place to get legitimate information about setting up direct deposit is via irs.gov/coronavirus. To report a suspected scam, visit the FTC complaint page at ftc.gov/complaint.

PA’s Transportation, Education, Health Service Sectors Hit Hardest by Unemployment

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry reported 275,392 initial and continued unemployment benefits claims for the week ending March 28 and 390,753 for the week ending April 4.

In Philadelphia, there were 13,037 initial and continued claims for the week ending March 28 and 18,536 for the week ending April 4. Philadelphia claims amounted to 4.7% of the statewide totals for each week. Allegheny County had the second-most claims each week with 4.4% and 3.9% of the statewide totals.

The trade, transportation, and utilities industry sector accounted for the largest portion of initial and continued claims in the April 4 report, with 80,587 claims. About one in every five claimants (20.6%) were employed in that sector.

For the same period, 15.9% of claimants worked in the education and health service sector, while 15.8% worked in leisure and hospitality. The manufacturing sector accounted for 12.7% of the statewide total, while the construction sector accounted for 12.0%.

The full reports for unemployment by workforce development area and by industry are available by visiting the Labor & Industry website.

Since March 15, the department has received more than 1.2 million new unemployment claims. Daily totals are posted here.

The department advises that the most effective way to file a UC claim is through the online application. The answers to most questions can be found on the department’s website. Questions about a specific claim may be sent by email to [email protected]. Emails must include the applicant’s full name and last four digits of the applicant’s social security number. Duplicate or repetitive emails about the same issue may cause delays.

Displaced workers should apply for benefits immediately upon losing their jobs. Eligible applicants will be sent two letters and a four-digit PIN via U.S. Mail. If approved, your initial benefit payment should arrive approximately four weeks after filing for UC. Applicants should file their biweekly claim (every two weeks) while awaiting approval.

Philly Shipyard Wins $630 Million Contract Supporting 1,200 Jobs

A commercial shipyard in South Philadelphia has secured a $630 million contract to build two training ships for the U.S. Maritime Administration that will support about 1,200 jobs for the tri-state region.

The April 7 announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation and its construction manager, TOTE Services, LLC, culminated a year-long bidding process. Construction at Philly Shipyard Inc. is expected to begin next year and continue through winter 2023, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The federal government may opt to extend the contract to include three additional vessels, which would raise the total contract value to $1.5 billion.

The shipyard, which is a subsidiary of a publicly traded Norwegian company, was most recently employed to build two container ships. As work on those vessels wound down in 2018 and early last year, the builder laid off about two-thirds of its 1,200-member workforce.

In February 2019, 12 members of Congress from the Philadelphia region wrote to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao extolling the unique capabilities of the shipyard.

“For more than 20 years, Philly Shipyard has specialized in constructing ocean-going merchant vessels, with an impressive of timely, on-budget deliveries,” they wrote. “The yard has delivered 29 vessels since 2003 alone – which represent nearly half of all U.S. large commercial vessels built in that time.”

The legislators further wrote that the shipyard operator has formed a “successful partnership” with the Philadelphia Metal Trades Council, which is comprised of representatives of ten labor unions at the shipyard.

“These training vessels will address a critical shortage of qualified officers needed to crew commercial and government-owned sealift ships during crises and will replace the current training ships at the state maritime academies in New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Texas, and California,” U.S. DOT stated.

Philly Shipyard Inc. occupies a portion of the former U.S. Navy Shipyard on the Delaware River waterfront.

February 2020 PA County Unemployment Rates

(Seasonally adjusted; Source: PA Department of Labor; Statewide Rate: 4.7%; These figures pre-date the COVID-19 emergency.)

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