Pennsylvania's Troubled Trust Fund

Pennsylvania has maintained dangerously low reserves for years, entering the recession with just three months' worth in its trust fund. The fund went insolvent in March 2009. To shore it up, the state is increasing the average tax on employers from $384 to $432 per worker and reducing benefits by 2.3 percent.

This news application is no longer being updated as of February 3, 2011. The historical data is still accurate.

  Bankrupt and Borrowing: Pennsylvania's unemployment fund is currently bankrupt and Pennsylvania is borrowing from the federal government.

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Borrowed Amount Unemployment Rate (November) Net Income (December) Avg. Weekly Benefit % of Unemployed
Receiving Benefits
$3,292.5m 8.1% $-275.6m $345.1 53.0%
National: 9% Rank: 49 of 51 Rank: 8 of 51 Rank: 5 of 51

Unemployment Reserves (millions)

Jan. 2005
July 2005
Jan. 2006
July 2006
Jan. 2007
July 2007
Jan. 2008
July 2008
Jan. 2009
July 2009
Jan. 2010
July 2010
$0.0
$500.0
$1,000.0
$1,500.0
$2,000.0
Trust Fund Balance (Pennsylvania is borrowing, Fund is Bankrupt)
Unsustainable

Reporters: You are free to use this data to report your stories. Just remember to credit Propublica. Here's a CSV Download of our unemployment data. (Last update February 02, 2011)

Sources: Google Public Data, Department of Labor, Treasury Department.