Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Dan Onorato said his opponent, Republican Tom Corbett, is "out of touch" and "clueless" about the plight of jobless Pennsylvanians.

Speaking at a Lancaster career center Friday, Onorato said Corbett's recent suggestions that many laid-off workers prefer to collect unemployment checks rather than get a job raises questions about his ability to lead.

"They were pretty insensitive comments, comments that showed that Tom really doesn't get what's going on," Onorato, the Allegheny County executive, said. "He's kind of clueless on this issue. And how do you try to fix a problem if you're not even sure what the problem is?"

VIDEO: Onorato criticizes Corbett's jobless comments

At a campaign stop in Elizabethtown a week ago, Corbett said he'd heard from business owners who claim they can't find workers.

"One of the issues — and I hear it repeatedly — one of the individuals said, 'I can't get workers. People don't want to come back to work while they still have unemployment.' They're literally telling him, 'I'll come back to work when unemployment runs out.' That's becoming a problem," Corbett said.

"The jobs are there. But if we keep extending unemployment, people are just going to sit there … ."

Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the Corbett campaign, said Corbett was citing anecdotal evidence relayed to him.

"Obviously, Tom Corbett knows firsthand that people are looking, that the people who aren't employed are actively seeking work," Harley said. Corbett has traveled the state speaking to the unemployed, he said.

Harley continued: "If there's anything Dan Onorato is an expert in, it's unemployment. Since he's been county executive, 19,000 people in Allegheny County have lost their jobs."

Corbett, though, made similar remarks before last week.

Before the primary in March, while visiting CareerLink in Lancaster, Corbett said the decision to extend unemployment benefits was serving as a disincentive to go back to work.

"What I see here are people looking for jobs, but that's only 10 percent" of the unemployed, Corbett said at the job-search and training center. "What about the other 80 or 90 percent?"

Onorato said the fact that Corbett has now made the same claim twice suggests he truly believes it.

"The fact that he said it in March and said it again last Friday — that's not a slip of the tongue," Onorato said. "This is a core belief of his."

At CareerLink, unemployed workers who have been looking for jobs for months didn't take kindly to Corbett's remarks.

Maritz Labron, a 31-year-old Columbia resident who has been looking for work since November, laughed when told of Corbett's remarks.

"I'd rather work than get unemployment," Labron said.

Others said the same thing — that unemployment compensation is a last resort.

"There are no jobs, and we have to live," Lillian Roldan, 49, of Lancaster, said. A former fast-food cook, she's been out of work since February of 2009 and was using CareerLink's Ready2Work program Friday.

Jim Stahl, a 49-year-old Elizabethtown resident, was laid off last August and hasn't been able to find a job. He didn't apply for unemployment compensation for six months.

"Unemployment is a last resort. I was running out of money," Stahl said. "I was raised, you do what you 'gotta' do. I don't like unemployment. I don't feel comfortable collecting it. But I have bills to pay."

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