PA Chamber Supports Multi-Faceted Approach to Strengthening Workforce
The PA Chamber understands the critical importance of helping employers and workers fill an existing jobs skills gap and developing the next generation of skilled talent who will want to live and work in Pennsylvania. To that end, we’ve taken several recent steps to advocate for reforming our state’s workforce development programs and help our state’s employers find qualified employees.
Supporting Clean Slate 3.0
Helping employers access previously untapped pools of talent is a major part of the puzzle in helping fill jobs and find qualified, inspired workers. The PA Chamber recently helped lead the bipartisan push for Clean Slate 3.0, which expands automatic criminal record sealing and will help encourage many Pennsylvanians into the workforce.
The first iteration of Clean Slate was signed in 2018 and has since become a nationwide model for its success in encouraging individuals to reenter the workforce, look for employment, and apply for and accept jobs. It provides for the automatic sealing of old, non-violent criminal records for individuals who remain crime-free for a set period of time. The PA Chamber worked with a strong bipartisan group of lawmakers to bring the first iteration of Clean Slate to the finish line, which has enabled more than 1.2 million reformed, formerly incarcerated Pennsylvanians to have their records sealed. They have benefitted from being able to pursue jobs and become contributing members of society, and this population represents a potentially vast pool of under-tapped talent in Pennsylvania.
In addition to the first Clean Slate law and the most recent expansion, Act 36 of 2023, which was signed last year, extends automatic criminal record sealing for select non-violent drug felonies, excluding dealing or trafficking.
Putting an End to UC “Ghosting”
Pennsylvania law requires unemployment compensation claimants to engage in an active search for work. But in today’s jobs climate, employers commonly report challenges in finding qualified workers to fill open positions – and along with that, instances where they’ve interviewed job candidates who admit that they’re only applying in order to comply with the work search requirement – or not even showing up for the interview at all. This is a practice known as “ghosting,” which the PA Chamber is working to stop.
The Senate has passed S.B. 1190, which would codify that a person is not eligible for UC benefits if they discourage their own employment. It would not create any additional requirements for job seekers who are looking for work in good faith (as our memo states). The PA Chamber is now urging the House to pass the bill and send it to the governor.
Attracting More Immigrants to the Commonwealth
Improving Pennsylvania’s legal immigration system is a critical component to our member-driven, multi-tiered workforce development agenda, as immigration policy and immigrants contribute substantially – both culturally and economically – to Pennsylvania and America’s quality of life and prosperity.
To help combat an ongoing workforce shortage, we support H.B. 1630, which would establish the Office of New Pennsylvanians – an office that would be charged with attracting, retaining, and embracing new immigrants in the Commonwealth. This legislation would help ensure that immigrants, who comprise a crucial component of Pennsylvania’s workforce, are equipped with the resources they need to be productive members of the communities where they live and work and fill an array of job openings in critically in-demand fields.
Supporting Employers and Employees Through Childcare Challenges
PA Chamber Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Alex Halper testified before the House Children and Youth Committee, sharing that many Pennsylvania-based employers have begun investing significant resources into offering an “all of the above” childcare benefits strategy in order to attract and retain employees amidst the ongoing workforce shortage.
During his testimony, Halper called on lawmakers to support employers in this effort by working to help reduce costs in other areas so that businesses of all sizes can afford to offer these benefits to attract new talent and grow their workforce.
“Pennsylvania employers are desperate for people. Across all industry sectors, they are struggling to recruit and retain people to fill open positions.”
“[Employers] are as creative and as thinking-outside-the-box as ever to recruit people into their businesses, including many Pennsylvania employers who are investing in their people’s childcare costs. But that is not always an option for every employer.”
“Moving forward, it has to be an all-of-the-above strategy, just like addressing workforce challenges in general, which will require a multifaceted public policy approach.”
“Funding is absolutely a part of it, but that can’t be the only part of it. That is not the panacea; we have to support these entities as employers and support those across Pennsylvania who are employing these individuals and trying to keep their costs down.”