As residents across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania continuously face tougher and tougher economic situations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state Department of Labor and Industry has launched a new online job portal in addition to its other services.
The portal, located at www.PAcareerlink.org and updated daily, can be found by selecting the green “PA COVID-19 Jobs — Hiring Immediately” banner. Once the portal is accessed, users can find a multitude of available jobs around Pennsylvania that are seeking help.
At the time of publication, 35 different jobs — some of which have multiple locations in Pennsylvania — were posted to the site.
While on the site, job seekers can click the “apply now” for any jobs they’re interested in, and will then be redirected to the job poster’s website in order to hasten the process.
Job seekers that were recently laid off can also complete the job seeker registration process at www.PAcareerlink.org, though it is currently not required, as Gov. Tom Wolf temporarily suspended all work search and work registration requirements for unemployment compensation (UC) claimants.
In addition, the waiting week for UC claimants is temporarily suspended. Previously, claimants would not receive compensation for the first week of unemployment.
The portal also allows life-sustaining businesses to feature job openings through an online form, though registering businesses must have more than 10 job openings.
The form can be located by clicking the “Employer Intake Form” link located above the job postings or by logging onto https://expressforms.pa.gov/apps/pa/dli/covid-19-pa-job-portal.
Once accessed, businesses will be required to provide their company name, a logo, locations, available positions and more.
The creation of the CareerLink portal comes as jobless claims around the Keystone State have skyrocketed. Unofficially, nearly 1.4 million claims have been filed since March 15, according to information provided by the state Office of Unemployment Compensation. As of Tuesday night, 84,289 new claims were made this week.
The week spanning March 22-28 saw the largest spike, with 405,879 claims filed in that span. The U.S. Department of Labor releases the official number of claims each Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
For more information about unemployment claims and the process for filing, visit uc.pa.gov.
