As other governors have announced plans to end a $300 a week supplemental unemployment benefit to encourage people to find work, Connecticut is offering a much different incentive: a $1,000 signing bonus.
Starting May 24, up to 10,000 people considered to have been unemployed for the “long-term” will be able to sign up on the state Department of Labor’s website and ultimately get paid the bonus after they’ve spent eight weeks in their new full-time job.
“You see the big athletes get a signing bonus. Why don’t you get a signing bonus as well,” asked Lamont, a Democrat, who announced the new initiative on Monday.
While more than a dozen states, most with Republican governors, have recently announced they will stop providing the extra benefit paid by the federal government, which is set to expire in September, Lamont said he didn’t consider taking that step. He acknowledged there are still residents afraid to work because of COVID-19 and thought it was fair to keep the $300 benefit in place.
“But that said, I wanted to do everything I could to incent people to get back to work, make it easier for them to be able to get back to work. If it’s child care, if it’s transportation, if it’s clothing, maybe the $1,000 helps.” he said. “It makes it a little easier for them to get back in the game.”
In March, Lamont announced plans to spend $50 million in federal coronavirus relief funds over two years for additional child care through the state’s Care4Kids program to help parents who lost jobs during the pandemic and need childcare as they receive training for new work.
House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, criticized Lamont’s $1,000 bonus, which will be paid for with federal relief money. He urged the governor to instead opt out of the $300 weekly unemployment program which he said has played a role in employers’ inability to fill vacancies.
“Persuading people to give up one government benefit with promise of another one is a little like a dog chasing its tail,” he said.
Lamont said rules for the new program will be released in about a day. He said long-term unemployed could mean about eight to 12 weeks without a job. Meanwhile, Connecticut is expected on June 1 to again require people receiving unemployment benefits to regularly report their job searches to the Department of Labor, according to the governor. That requirement has been suspended during the pandemic.
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