School layoffs will make Philly’s high unemployment worse

Last week it was announced that 3,783 Philadelphia school system employees will lose their jobs due to the district’s financial crisis — a $304 million shortfall for the coming fiscal year. 

This announcement is especially bad for the Philadelphia economy, as Philly Weekly reports.The city has suffered higher unemployment rates — peaking in January at 11.5 percent — than the rest of the country in recent years. 

While some money from the state may eventually come into the school district’s budget and not all layoffs will occur, it is currently unknown how much and when.

“Philadelphia has been hit very hard by the recession,” John Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, told PW. “We definitely don’t need thousands of new layoffs.”