Pennsylvania’s Comeback from Coronavirus Shutdowns Could Determine the Outcome of the 2020 Presidential Race

Since the COVID-19 shutdown began, residents of Pennsylvania have filed nearly 1.1 million claims for unemployment benefits, trailing only California, which has three times Pennsylvania’s population of 13 million. The new jobless claims represent an astounding 18% of the 6.1 million Pennsylvanians working in February — a Depression-evoking figure. Pennsylvania is a harbinger, both of the job losses other states will likely suffer and, potentially, of the fate of President Donald Trump’s reelection hopes this November.

The state’s labor department is grimly efficient. Its system for processing unemployment claims hasn’t frozen up under a record number of inquiries. The quantity of job losses reported by Pennsylvania will start showing up in other states over the next few weeks, as more people access websites or get through to phone lines. New York, for example, recorded nearly 800,000 new claims over the last three weeks. Two months ago, it had 9.2 million workers — bigger by half than Pennsylvania’s workforce.

As national unemployment figures continue to rise, it’s worth keeping an eye on the Keystone State. Pennsylvania is a state that closely tracks national averages: in racial demographics (82% white), household income (nearly $60,000), labor-force participation (63%), college-educated adults (31%), public-sector taxes and spending, and pragmatic politics, it offers a snapshot of the United States as a whole.

Continue reading the entire piece here at The Philadelphia Inquirer

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Nicole Gelinas is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor at City Journal. This piece was adapted from City Journal. Follow her on Twitter here.

This piece originally appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer